EVANSTON, Ill. -- Northwestern's 15th-ranked field hockey team followed up its victory over No. 2 Maryland with a convincing 5-1 victory over Ball State on Sunday at Lakeside Field.
One day after recording one of the top victories in program history, the Wildcats took care of business as they raced out to a three-goal first-half lead.
NU earned 15 penalty corners in the contest and cashed in on their fourth opportunity of the game just over 14 minutes into the contest when Dominique Masters ripped a blast past Shelby Henley to make it 1-0. Lisa McCarthy and Charlotte Martin were credited with assists on the play.
The lead grew to two three minutes later when the 'Cats converted off a corner again. Caroline Troncelliti took a feed from Flens for her seventh goal of the year.
The Wildcats notched one more first half goal at 22:12 when sophomore Juliet Beatty tipped in an entry into the circle by Martin that made it 3-0. The Cardinals got back in the contest with 4:25 left in the opening stanza when Bethany Han scored an unassisted goal.
Northwestern carried the two-goal lead into the second half and Ball State continued to hang close. The 'Cats replaced Maddy Carpenter with Lindsay von der Luft in goal to start the second half and the redshirt freshman came up with a number of big saves to prevent the visitors from getting any closer.
NU's lead was still just two as the game clock approached 20 minutes remaining but another goal off of a corner helped the Wildcats stretch out their advantage. Isabel Flens notched her team-leading seventh of the season off assists from Martin and McCarthy to make it 4-1 at 49:16.
Northwestern posted one final insurance goal at 53:05 when Ashley Bernardi knocked in an unassisted goal, her second of the season, to account for the final margin.
Northwestern finished the contest with advantages of 21-9 in shots and 15-5 in penalty corners. Five saves were made by von der Luft in her 35 minutes of action.
The Wildcats return to action at 3 p.m. Friday when they host Rutgers at Lakeside Field.