Northwestern University Athletics
Northwestern Is No. 1
3/22/2005 12:00:00 AM | Women's Lacrosse
March 22, 2005
EVANSTON, Ill. - There are 82 NCAA Division I women's lacrosse programs in the country, and as of today Northwestern -- in just its fourth season of varsity status -- is considered the best of them all.
The Wildcats were voted into the No. 1 spot in the latest Intercollegiate Women's Lacrosse Coaches Association (IWLCA) national poll Monday, thanks in part to former No. 1 Princeton's overtime loss to Penn State over the weekend. Northwestern received 11 of a possible 15 first-place votes in becoming the first school outside of the Eastern Time Zone to be ranked No. 1.
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That No. 1 ranking held in the other two polls conducted for women's lacrosse, by Inside Lacrosse and womenslacrosse.com.
"This is a great day for our program," said NU head coach Kelly Amonte Hiller. "I am pleased with the recognition, but our players know that they need to keep improving if they want to hold on to this spot. Everyone will be gunning for us now; we have become the biggest target out there."
How improbable is the No. 1 ranking? Never mind the fact that the Wildcats are only in their fourth year back as a varsity program (NU also had women's lacrosse from 1982-92, before dropping it to club status in 1993). Consider also Northwestern's relative remoteness among the sports traditional powers -- the 'Cats are one of just five Division I programs located between the Appalachian Mountains and the Mississippi River. The ranked team with the closest proximity to Evanston? Ohio State, located 370 miles away in Columbus. The average distance between Northwestern and the other 19 teams ranked in this week's poll is 749 miles.
"This is an exciting step not just for our program, but for lacrosse in general," said Amonte Hiller. "I think it is great for lacrosse to have a Midwestern team at the top spot, it shows the growth of this sport from the Eastern schools."
Women's lacrosse is not a Big Ten-sanctioned sport, and so Northwestern plays in the American Lacrosse Conference (ALC) along with fellow Big Ten members Ohio State and Penn State, as well as Vanderbilt, Johns Hopkins, Ohio University and Davidson. This week, five ALC teams are nationally ranked -- in addition to NU at No. 1, Penn State is second, Johns Hopkins is 12th, Ohio State is 13th, and Vanderbilt is 19th.
Just last season, Northwestern began its third varsity campaign not even ranked in the preseason Top 20. However, the Wildcats added a bandwagon of believers while putting together a 15-3 record (strengthened by a 13-game winning streak during the regular season), winning a share of the ALC title, and advancing to the quarterfinal round of the NCAA Championships where they lost to eventual national champion Virginia, 15-11. At the end of the season, NU was ranked sixth in the final IWLCA poll.
Northwestern has plenty going for it this season, of course. The Wildcats are 7-0, boasting more wins than any other team in the country. They are also one of just eight teams still undefeated entering the week. After Sunday's 18-6 win over California at the Thomas Athletic Complex, the 'Cats are averaging 17.6 goals per game in their last six outings (since a 6-5 win at No. 5 UNC to start the season). NU has also defeated three ranked teams this season.
This is Northwestern's first No. 1-ranked team since men's golf held the top spot in its national poll in 2000, and it is the first time a Wildcat women's team has held a No. 1 ranking since field hockey did for five weeks in 1994.
Northwestern will play its first game in the No. 1 spot Thursday at the University of New Hampshire; following that, the Wildcats are home for six games in a row, starting next Friday, April 1, when Rutgers comes to town. Among the teams on that homestand: No. 6 Duke (Sunday, April 10) and No. 2 Penn State (Friday, April 15), who boast not one but two wins over No. 1 teams this season -- the Nittany Lions also knocked off Virginia on March 11, when the Cavaliers were the top-ranked team in the country.
