Northwestern University Athletics
NU Back Home To Host Huskies
4/3/2003 12:00:00 AM | Women's Lacrosse
April 3, 2003
EVANSTON, Ill. - The women's lacrosse season is a short one, but it is amazing how many interesting dynamics can come into play in that condensed time.
Take Northwestern's situation, for example. The second-year Wildcats were ranked 20th in the Intercollegiate Women's Lacrosse Coaches Association (IWLCA) poll on March 17, then moved up to No. 19 after a 10-goal loss at home to 17th-ranked Ohio State.
That ranking preceded NU's trip to Nashville for spring break, where the 'Cats fell two more times in American Lacrosse Conference action (to No. 20 Vanderbilt and No. 18 Johns Hopkins).
As a result, the Wildcats were left as an afterthought in Monday's poll, the lone team under the distinction "Receiving Votes."
So which team replaced Northwestern in the poll? Ironically, it is the team that comes to Lakeside Field Sunday at 1 p.m. to face off with the Wildcats -- the University of Connecticut.
"I am expecting a real good game Sunday," said NU head coach Kelly Amonte Hiller, a veteran of the U.S. National program along with UConn head coach Bonnie Rosen. " They are a lot like us, in that they are young but with some real good tools. They have good speed, and they are well-coached."
However, Amonte Hiller sees one thing that might help the 'Cats out this weekend.
"UConn is at Notre Dame -- a team ranked higher than them -- Saturday at noon, a little more than 24 hours before they play us," she said. "So they may be a little tired as the game wears on Sunday. We will hope to wear them down over the course of the game."
Amonte Hiller's main focus this week, however, has been on her young charges. The Wildcats have had nine days to work out the kinks -- both physical and psychological -- that have led to this current three-game slide after a heady 5-0 start.
"It was tough to have three losses in a row," she acknowledged. "However, I think what was important was our women saw what level they need to get to, and play at, for an entire game. After playing those three games, we had a better understanding that we need to compete at an extremely high level for the entire 60 minutes; doing it in portions of a game is not enough against the best teams."
Northwestern's downturn can be tempered by the success their recent foes are having. Ohio State is now 7-2 and crashed the Top 10 in this week's poll, while Vanderbilt -- the defending ALC champion -- fired arguably the biggest salvo of the season with a win over No. 2 Duke Wednesday. Evidence is there to suggest NU's losses have come against teams that are better than their current ranking, teams that will be heard from nationally before NCAA play arrives in May.
"We may have lost a little confidence in our losses, but clearly those teams are very good; our women have to realize that we were right there with them," said Amonte Hiller. "We have spent the last week fine-tuning our defense a little bit, but the major thing is with the offense. We have been working on getting them to go to goal, like they were doing early in the season."
Sunday's game will be the first in women's lacrosse between Northwestern and UConn, a varsity program since 1997.
