No. 7 'Cats Dominate Second Half in 14-8 Win over Buffs

Evanston, Ill.-- To quote Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz, "There's no place like home."

After playing its first five games of the season away from Lakeside Field,seventh-ranked Northwestern returned to the shores of Lake Michigan amidst sunny skies with an offensive explosion to defeat Colorado Saturday afternoon, 14-8.

Led by freshmen Corinne Wessels and Selena Lasota, the Wildcats (4-2) outscored the Buffaloes (2-2) in the second half, 10-4, including a 6-0 run after falling behind 6-5 to earn the victory.Wessels, playing in just her second game of the season, recorded six points with a team-high five assists and a goal, while Lasota continued the torrid start to her career with a game-high five goals depite a face guard from the Buffs the entirety of the game. Classmate Shelby Fredericks recorded her first-career hat trick and junior Kaleigh Craig tallied a pair of goals.

An improved performance in the draw circle propelled the 'Cats in the second half as they finished with a 13-2 advantage in the final 30 minutes and a 19-5 advantage in the game. Sophomore Sheila Nesselbush led NU with six draw controls, while Fredericks had five.

"The kids were pretty motivated and once they settled down, they did a much better job," head coach Kelly Amonte Hiller said in reference to the second half compared to the first half. "We were working together. We were getting different people the ball, moving the ball well and utilizing what they were doing to our favor.

The 'Cats and Buffs played to a 4-4 tie through the first half before Colorado eventually grabbed a 6-5 lead with 23:22 to play on a goal by Blair Sisk. The lead was short-lived however as Chicago's Big Ten Team went on a 6-0 run over the next 12 minutes of the contest.

Fredericks evened the game on an unassisted tally at the 21:17 mark and Colorado was given a yellow card on the ensuing draw to give the 'Cats 1-up advantage. It didn'ttake long for the home team to capitalize as senior Jess Carroll found a cutting Craig just 15 seconds later to take a 7-6 lead.

Senior Blake McHugh scored a goal for the third-straight game on a free-position opportunity at the 19:10 mark and Lasota split three defenders before firing from the left side for her fourth goal of the day.

After Craig's second goal of the game extended the lead to four, 10-6, Wessels took over from behind the net and displayed why her presence has taken the Wildcats' offense to another level.

The freshman asissted on each of the Wildcats' next four goals, finding Lasota in front of the net at the 11:47 mark to cap the 6-0 run before feeding Fredericks, sophomore Sheila Nesselbush and freshman Emily Stein over a six-minute span. The all-time leader in assists in National Federation of State High School Associations history in career assists has continued her helping ways collegiately as she now has seven helpers in her first two games.

Stein's goal with 4:56 to play was the first of her career and extended the lead to 14-7.

Whilethe offense exploded in the second half, it was the play of senior goalkeeper Bridget Bianco in the first half that helped the 'Cats head to break tied, 4-4. Coming off a season-high 13 saves last week at UNC, Bianco finished the first 30 minutes with 10 saves and held the Buffs to 3-for-7 on free-position opportunities. Colorado mustered just seven shots in the second half with Bianco coming up with two more saves to finish with 12 on the afternoon in improving to 4-2 on the season in net.

The Wildcats were impressive in cleaning up ground balls in front of the net after each of Bianco's saves as they finished the afternoon with a 25-22 advantage. Fredericks, seniorCaley Chelios and junior Spring Sanders led the team with three apiece, while seniorHaydyn Anigian and freshmen Lindsey Darrell and Shannon Nesselbush each had two.

Northwestern will get an extended 15-day break between contests before returning to action on Sunday, March 22 against Syracuse. The game will be the first of four-straight on the Big Ten Network for Chicago's Big Ten Team and is scheduled for 12 p.m. CT.