Sept. 12, 2009
Box Score
OXFORD, Ohio -- Northwestern sophomore Chelsea Armstrong found the back of the cage four times and chipped in an assist on a fifth goal to power NU over Central Michigan, 5-2, Saturday in Oxford, Ohio. The nine-point performance upped Armstrong's Big Ten-leading points total this season to 23.
Northwestern improves to 5-2 on the season heading into Sunday's road contest against Miami (Ohio) at noon CT.
Before Armstrong began her scoring spree, Northwestern took a 1-0 first-half lead thanks to a goal by senior Elizabeth Dobbs, her third of the season. Armstrong set up her teammate with a pass down low during the run of play to Dobbs, who managed to beat CMU goalkeeper Melinda Curran.
Seven minutes later, Armstrong scored the first of back-to-back goals off penalty corners to give Northwestern a two-goal cushion entering halftime. Stephanie Fortson and Sarah Marcincin sparked Armstrong's goals with the assists on NU's penalty attack unit.
Armstrong pushed the lead to three off a penalty corner just over a minute and a half into the second half before racing down the field on a breakaway only 20 seconds later, taking a feed from Dobbs and finishing to give Northwestern a comfortable 4-0 lead.
The Chippewas cut NU's advantage in half with a pair of goals in the 44th and 55th minutes, receiving one each from Kelly Jordan and Lauren Leed. But Amanda Wirth, Northwestern's freshman goalkeeper, put the clamps over the final 15 minutes to end any thought of a Central Michigan comeback. Wirth finished six saves on the afternoon.
In the waning minutes of the game, Armstrong tallied once more to complete her prolific afternoon, creating and scoring on an unassisted goal to account for the final score of 5-2.
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