Northwestern
Stanford
Stanford Pulls Away From Wildcats, 9-5
4/11/2003 12:00:00 AM | Women's Lacrosse
April 11, 2003
EVANSTON, Ill. - For the second straight home game, 20th-ranked Northwestern was up 4-3 at the half on a ranked opponent. Unfortunately for the Wildcats, lightning could not strike twice.
Five days after NU's 8-6 win over Connecticut, No. 16 Stanford was able to bounce back in the second stanza and outscore the Wildcats 6-1 to emerge from Lakeside Field with a 9-5 victory.
Stanford improves to 9-2 on the season, while NU falls to 6-4.
"I was actually pretty happy with how we played today," said NU head coach Kelly Amonte Hiller. "We had our chances, especially down the stretch, but we just could not finish. That is something that we need to take care of, taking care of business around the cage. Our youth and inexperience showed a little bit."
Stanford drew first blood when Megan Burker scored an unassisted marker six minutes into the game, but Northwestern came back with three straight goals. Courtney Koester got the ball rolling with an unassisted effort at 11:22, and two minutes later Erin Flynn and Laura Glassanos had unassisted goals just eight seconds apart.
Nina Pantano (from Burker) and Abbi Hills scored to bring Stanford level, but with 5:52 left in the half Glassnos netted her second on a nice feed from Donna McCann, and the score stayed at 4-3 until halftime.
Stanford pulled away gradually in the second half, scoring the first four goals of the stanza over a 15:49 period. Burker added another goal and assist during the run, while Pantano netted her second on a free-position effort.
NU's Lindsey Munday got the 'Cats to within 7-5 with 11:31 to play off a feed from Angela McMahon, but they got no closer as Kelsey Twist and Hills scored in the game's final three minutes.
"I thought we got a little tired defensively toward the end of the game," said Amonte Hiller. "But I was proud of the women -- they put forth their best effort right from the start and kept us in the game."
Both goalkeepers had nice performances in the goal, but Stanford's Christina Saikus cut a large figure with 10 stops including six in the decisive second half. At the other end, Ashley Gersuk had nine saves in the Northwestern cage.
Northwestern is on the road Sunday, taking on unranked Virginia Tech at 11 a.m. ET. Last year, the Hokies knocked off the Wildcats in Evanston, 10-5.
GAME SUMMARY
Score by Half
Stanford (9-2) 3 6 -- 9
Northwestern (6-4) 4 1 -- 5
Goals
Northwestern: Glassanos 2, C. Koester, E. Flynn, Munday.
Stanford: Burker 2, Pantano 2, Hills 2, Harvey, Cahill, Twist.
Assists
Northwestern: McCann, McMahon.
Stanford: Burker 2, Bach.
Goalie Saves
Northwestern: Gersuk 9.
Stanford: Saikus 10.
SHOTS ON GOAL: Stanford 19, NU 16
FREE POSITION GOALS/ATT.: Stanford 2/5, NU 0/4
GROUND BALLS: NU 17, Stanford 14
DRAW CONTROLS: Stanford 9, NU 7
TURNOVERS: NU 16, Stanford 12
FOULS: Stanford 15, NU 8
