Northwestern
Johns Hopkins
Wildcats Wing Past Blue Jays, 15-8
4/25/2004 12:00:00 AM | Women's Lacrosse
April 25, 2004
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EVANSTON, Ill. - If there were any questions as to whether or not the 11th-ranked Northwestern women's lacrosse team is for real, the third-year program has answered with a stamp that is resonating throughout the country.
That answer is yes.
Sunday provided the latest example, as the Wildcats (12-1, 4-0 ALC) jumped out on No. 9 Johns Hopkins and never looked back en route to a 15-8 decision at the Leonard B. Thomas Athletic Complex. The win was NU's second this week against a Top-10 team (the 'Cats beat No. 6 Notre Dame 9-5 on Tuesday) and set the stage for head coach Kelly Amonte Hiller's team to likely crash the Top 10 when the IWLCA national poll comes out Monday night.
"We have a very confident team right now," she said following Sunday's win over the Blue Jays. "The players know that if they play together they can match up with anyone."
The win was NU's 11th in a row, which is the second-longest streak in the country behind No. 1 Princeton (23). In addition, the 'Cats are now the only unbeaten team in the American Lacrosse Conference at 4-0; if they can beat Ohio (Friday) and Vanderbilt (May 6), they would earn the conference's first ever automatic bid into the 16-team NCAA Tournament.
Johns Hopkins (12-3, 4-1) came to Evanston off a scintillating win at Notre Dame Friday, but Northwestern never trailed in this game and pulled away down the stretch when the Blue Jays defense was forced to chase.
"We have had a lot of balance all year offensively, and today was no exception," said Amonte Hiller. "As we continued to hold the lead they were forced to come out on us defensively, and we have pretty skilled 1-on-1 players and took advantage of the matchups."
Northwestern started the scoring at the 4:10 mark when Lindsay Finocchiaro netted a free-position shot -- the first of five NU would convert in the first half. Hopkins tied the game when Erin Riordan scored off the 8-meter, but Lindsey Munday put the 'Cats ahead for good with an unassisted goal just 28 seconds after Riordan's tally. That was the first of three goals in a row, as Kristen Kjellman and Laura Glassanos each converted free-position opportunities.
Hopkins got one back when Marlena Wittelsberger scored off a feed from Steph Janice, but that touched off another three-goal run by NU as Kjellman finished a Munday feed, and Abby Alley and Sarah Albrecht netted free-position goals.
After the game, Amonte Hiller pointed to NU's advantage on draw controls as the key.
"I think draws are the key to the game," she said, after the 'Cats won seven of the first eight in the contest to open up its lead. "We work on those a lot, and we have done particularly well the last two games on that aspect of the game. That is always a focus of ours -- after all, if you don't have the ball, there is no way you can score."
The Jays got themselves back to within 7-4 by halftime thanks to goals by Mary Key and Kelley Putnam, then scored twice to answer an Aly Josephs goal to make the score 8-6 in NU's favor with 20 minutes to play. However, Northwestern's youthful lineup -- no seniors were on the field almost the entire way -- kept a level head.
Kjellman -- who led all scorers with four goals -- got the run started with an unassisted goal, and then more than five minutes passed before Josephs netted her second of the day on a free-position effort. Hopkins briefly responded when Meghan Voight scored, but less than a minute after that goal Munday knocked home an unassisted goal.
Key found the goal a second time with 10:08 to play, making the score 11-8, but once again Northwestern quickly had the answer -- just 19 seconds after Key's goal, Glassanos finished a feed from Munday. The finishing touch came when the 'Cats got goals from Glassanos, Munday and Kjellman in a span of 1:17 to make the score 15-8 with less than five minutes to play.
Amonte Hiller was especially pleased with her defense again. The Wildcats held Key, the ALC's leading scorer, to just two goals and three shots, and Heidi Pearce -- who entered the game with more than 50 minutes -- did not get a shot off. In the goal, Ashley Gersuk came up with nine saves to keep the Jays at bay; she also had five ground balls and a caused turnover.
"We changed up our defense quite a bit for this game, and I think that threw Hopkins," she said. "Key is a marquee player, and we did an incredible job on her which we knew we needed to do -- you could see, when she had the ball, just how dangerous she can be. Our feeling was, the less she has the ball the better for us."
Northwestern can look ahead to three more home games to close out the regular season -- in addition to the Ohio and Vandy games, the 'Cats host Denver next Sunday. Amonte Hiller sounded the warning that it was still too early to be doing any celebrating.
"I don't want our focus to be on winning conference championships and making the NCAAs," she said. "We want to continue to improve our play. We focused today on playing well, and I want the players to continue thinking that way. We are excited to get this win, especially since it is a conference win, but we need to come out next weekend with the same excitement."
GAME SUMMARY
Score by Half
Johns Hopkins (12-3, 4-1) 4 4 -- 8
Northwestern (12-1, 4-0) 7 8 -- 15
Goals
Northwestern: Kjellman 4, Munday 3, Glassanos 3, Josephs 2, Alley, Albrecht, Finocchiaro.
Hopkins: Key 2, Putnam 2, Riordan, Wittelsberger, Janice, Voight.
Assists
Northwestern: Munday 3, Alley, Albrecht.
Hopkins: Janice, Riordan.
Goalie Saves
NU - Gersuk 10; JHU - Riddick 9.
Shots: NU 22, Hopkins 16
Free-Position Goals/Att.: NU 6/9, Hopkins 3/6
Ground Balls: Hopkins 28, NU 27
Caused Turnovers: NU 16, Hopkins 12
Draw Controls: NU 14, Hopkins 11
