Northwestern University Athletics
Go West, Young Women!
4/8/2004 12:00:00 AM | Women's Lacrosse
April 8, 2004
EVANSTON, Ill.--College lacrosse is a sport pocketed primarily along the East Coast. Nearly every New England school has it, and that trend extends into the Mid-Atlantic region -- home of most of the powers in the game -- before trickling out at the border that separates the Carolinas.
Once you cross over the Appalachian Mountains, the same thing happens. Teams pop up sporadically -- that group includes Northwestern. Head west past Chicago, though, and you are pretty much done with college lacrosse.
However, there is a pocket in and around the Bay Area of California where the sport has picked up. This weekend, for the first time in history, Northwestern's 13th-ranked lacrosse team heads that way to see what kind of chops its western counterparts at Stanford and California have.
Friday's game in Palo Alto will begin at 7 p.m. Pacific (9 Central), while Sunday's game at Berkeley will begin at noon Pacific (2 p.m. Central).
"This is going to be an exciting trip for us," said NU head coach Kelly Amonte Hiller, whose team boasts almost all East Coast players and has made numerous trips back that way during her first three years. "A lot of our families will be heading out there to join us, since it is Easter weekend, so it should be a good trip. We have been looking forward to this for awhile now.
"Our team likes to travel," she said, noting that six of the Wildcats' eight games to date have been on the road. "The players really look forward to being together."
NU will put a six-game win streak on the line Friday night at Stanford (7-4), which is also nationally ranked at No. 19. All four of the Cardinal's losses have come to ranked teams, and three of those defeats were by a single goal. In addition, Stanford came to Evanston last year and pinned a 9-5 loss on the 'Cats, so Amonte Hiller knows her team has its work cut out.
"I expect a smart, skilled team," she said. "They have a lot of weapons offensively and have been playing strong defense lately, too. The fact that it is a night game will add to the atmosphere; I know our players are excited to have a game under the lights."
Sunday afternoon, NU will face unranked California (6-6) in Berkeley. The Bears took Stanford to overtime Saturday before falling 15-12; prior to that game, they had won four of five. So once again, the 'Cats should not expect a cakewalk.
"Cal is an athletic team who looks to play an up-tempo game," said Amonte Hiller. "This also is their only game of the weekend, so they will be rested while we are playing our second game of the weekend. We will need to respond properly."
Amonte Hiller was pleased with her team's play Sunday at Connecticut (an 18-4 win), but cautions that a similar effort will be needed this weekend to get two more wins.
"We took a big step last weekend," she said. "We really broke through offensively, and showed that we have a lot of players who can be potent on attack; 10 of our 18 goals were assisted. We were also consistent for all 60 minutes, too, which was good. We will need two more games like them this weekend."
