Northwestern
Penn State
Wildcats Come Back at Penn State, 13-11
4/17/2004 12:00:00 AM | Women's Lacrosse
April 17, 2004
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STATE COLLEGE, Pa. - Northwestern got off to a slow start Saturday against No. 18 Penn State, but luckily the Wildcats had plenty in reserve in coming back and gaining a 13-11 win over the Nittany Lions.
The Wildcats (10-1, 3-0 ALC) extended their school-record winning streak to nine games and earned their first win over Penn State (3-9, 1-2) in three tries since being brought back to varsity status in 2002. NU remains one of just two undefeated teams in the American Lacrosse Conference, along with Johns Hopkins (4-0).
Penn State scored the first two goals of Saturday's game, before Sarah Albrecht halved the deficit with a free-position goal at the 7:11 mark. However, the Nittany Lions reeled off the next four goals of the game, including three in a span of 2:33, to take a 6-1 lead with 12 minutes left in the half.
At that point, NU head coach Kelly Amonte Hiller called timeout.
"I told the players that they needed to have more fire," she said. "We had to take care of the little things -- the ground balls, the draws, all of those things. I felt like we had been rushing on our offensive opportunities, but after we scored a few more goals we settled down and were able to change the pace of the game."
Northwestern was able to work its way back into the game, aided when Jenny Bush scored less than a minute after Penn State's sixth goal. Kristen Kjellman notched the first of her five goals on the day with 5:15 left, and then Aly Josephs and Angela McMahon tallied goals in the final minute of the half -- McMahon's, a quick-stick off a Lindsey Munday feed, came with just three seconds left on the clock.
"Those two goals were crucial," said Amonte Hiller. "After we scored the first goal, I was confident that if we won the draw we were going to have a good chance to score again. Angela is a smart player, and she pinched into the middle when Munday was double-teamed, and Lindsey found her for the goal."
The 'Cats entered the second half with a renewed sense of confidence, but the game was hardly over. Kjellman, Courtney Koester and Laura Glassanos scored within the first seven minutes of the second half to make the score 8-6 in NU's favor, but Penn State drew level on goals by Katie Hartman and Lori Havrilla just 42 seconds apart.
Northwestern re-took the lead when Kjellman scored off a Munday feed with 19:05 left, and then six minutes later Josephs notched her second of the day on an Albrecht assist. . However, the Nittany Lions again stormed back, this time on goals from Emily Chambers and Katie Jeschke exactly one minute apart, and with 10 minutes left in the contest the score was knotted at 10-10.
The score stayed that way for more than six minutes, before Kjellman took matters into her hands. The freshman scored an unassisted goal with 3:48 left to break the tie, then provided the 'Cats insurance with a goal off another Munday feed (Munday's fifth assist of the game) with 2:19 left. Just 29 seconds after that, Albrecht netted her second of the day to put NU comfortably ahead, 13-10.
Penn State was able to answer once, on a Hartman goal with 1:13 remaining, but could not get any closer.
"This was a great win for us," said Amonte Hiller. "We played hard and had to make some adjustments on the fly, but when we needed the women to step up they did. This is just the kind of game we needed as we head into the final stretch of the season."
After playing nine of its first 11 games on the road, the Wildcats will be home for each of their last five games -- a stretch that includes three ALC contests. Before any conference games, though, NU gets set to host No. 2 Notre Dame Tuesday afternoon at 4 p.m. at the Leonard B. Thomas Athletic Complex.
GAME SUMMARY
Score by Half
Northwestern (10-1, 3-0) 5 8 -- 13
Penn State (3-9, 1-2) 6 5 -- 11
Goals
Northwestern: Kjellman 5, Albrecht 2, Josephs 2, Bush, McMahon, C. Koester, Glassanos.
Penn State: Havrilla 2, Hartman 2, Chambers 2, Donahue, Craig, Burke, Long, Jeschke.
Assists
Northwestern: Munday 5, Glassanos 2, Albrecht.
Penn State: Maslin 2, Havrilla, Craig, Cipro.
Goals
NU - Gersuk 8; PSU - Tortorelli 15.
Shots: NU 26, Penn State 25
Free-Position Goals/Att.: NU 2/6, Penn State 3/3
Ground Balls: NU 14, Penn State 6
Draw Controls: NU 13, Penn State 13
Caused Turnovers: NU 9, Penn State 6
