Northwestern
Rutgers
Wildcats Hold Off Rutgers, 10-5
4/1/2005 12:00:00 AM | Women's Lacrosse
April 1, 2005
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EVANSTON, Ill. - The Northwestern women's lacrosse team entered the week boasting one of the most potent offenses in the nation as well as one of the stingiest defenses. The combination has helped the top-ranked Wildcats lead the nation in goal differential.
Friday afternoon against Rutgers, both sides were on display in the first half as the Wildcats built an 8-0 lead and barely gave the Scarlet Knights room to breathe.
Things changed in the second half.
Northwestern was uncharacteristically sloppy with the ball, turning it over an astounding 13 times while managing just seven shots. Rutgers, meanwhile, became the inspired team offensively and crawled back into the contest with five unanswered goals to make the score 8-5 with four minutes to play.
However, a save by Ashley Gersuk on a close-range shot -- her sixth and final one of the game -- kept the Knights at bay, and at the other end Kristen Kjellman scored her fourth and fifth goals of the day in the final 1:32 to provide NU with the 10-5 victory.
Playing at home for the first time in nearly two weeks, Northwestern took longer than normal to get going -- nearly five minutes passed before Kjellman finished a feed from Lindsey Munday, and it was almost five more minutes before the duo reversed roles for the Wildcats' second goal.
After the 10-minute mark, however, the 'Cats took flight. Kjellman deked her way to a pair of unassisted goals just 2:10 apart, and then Christy Finch converted a free-position shot at the 18:27 mark. Less than a minute later, NU made it 6-0 when Laura Glassanos netted a feed from Sarah Albrecht. The first-half onslaught ended with Annie Elliott scoring an unassisted goal and Finch scoring off a Glassanos feed.
The second half started slowly for both teams, before Rutgers finally got on the board 6:53 in on Katie Batiuk's goal (assisted by Kate Shomo). Buoyed by their first goal, the Knights made it 8-2 just 1:18 later when Sarah Soden netted a free-position goal.
While Northwestern struggled to string passes together in the midfield and on offense, the Knights continued creeping up. Rachel Bruce scored on the free-position at 14:04, and then more than 10 minutes went by before the Knights got a goal from Lindsay Rising to make the score 8-4. Just 45 seconds later, Bruce scored her second of the day on a free-position shot, and NU was forced to take timeout.
Northwestern controlled the draw out of the timeout, but another turnover led to Soden being sprung on a breakaway. However, her point-blank shot was tipped away by Gersuk, and that seemed to stop the bleeding.
With the Knights forced to come out and guard closely to stop NU's keepaway game, Kjellman was able to shake free and score another unassisted goal with 1:32 left. She then closed things out with a free-position goal in the game's final seconds.
Gersuk had six saves on the day, three in each half, while her Rutgers counterpart Lyndsey Feldman had 10 stops.
Northwestern is home again Sunday afternoon, taking on the University of Connecticut. Faceoff at the Thomas Complex is slated for 1 p.m.
#1 NORTHWESTERN 10, RUTGERS 5
Score by Half
Rutgers (3-5) 0 5 - 5
#1 Northwestern (9-0) 8 2 - 10
Goals
NU: Kjellman 5, Finch 2, Munday, Glassanos, Elliott.
Rutgers: Bruce 2, Batiuk, Soden, Rising.
Assists
NU: Munday, Kjellman, Albrecht, Glassanos.
Rutgers: Shomo, Batiuk.
Goalkeeper Saves
NU: Gersuk 6
Rutgers: Feldman 10
Shots: NU 22, Rutgers 13
Free-Position Goals/Attempts: NU 2/6, Rutgers 3/5
Ground Balls: Rutgers 28, NU18
Caused Turnovers: NU 10, Rutgers 7
Draw Controls: NU 13, Rutgers 4
Fouls: NU 20, Rutgers 18
