Northwestern University Athletics
No. 1 Wildcats Dive Back Into ALC Play This Weekend
4/14/2005 12:00:00 AM | Women's Lacrosse
April 14, 2005
EVANSTON, Ill. - Following last Sunday's win against No. 2 Duke, the Northwestern women's lacrosse team celebrated as if it had won a championship.
The irony, of course, is that the next five games on the Wildcats schedule will go much further toward the team receiving hardware than that victory over the Blue Devils -- the next five games all come against American Lacrosse Conference opponents.
And what a way to start the final stretch -- with No. 8 Penn State Friday at 4 p.m., and then Davidson Sunday at noon when the Wildcats (12-0, 1-0 ALC) will celebrate Senior Day.
(Friday's game with Penn State will be broadcast live on WNUR Radio; you can listen to the audio broadcast via College Sports Pass. Check the NUsports.com front page for more information!).
Two of the Nittany Lions' (8-3, 2-0 ALC) three losses have come by a goal, and they also boast the distinction of having beaten the two teams that preceded Northwestern in the No. 1 spot of the IWLCA poll -- Virginia and Princeton. In fact, both the Cavaliers and the Tigers lost their top ranking after falling to Penn State. The Lions come to Evanston this weekend boasting last year's first-team All-ALC goalkeeper, Lee Tortorelli, and a balanced attack that has five women with at least 20 points.
Last year, these two teams played to a near stalemate in University Park before the Wildcats emerged with a 13-11 victory -- NU's closest game among its final eight regular-season wins. Coming off last weekend's emotional win, Northwestern must be wary not to let Penn State's third time against a No. 1 be a charm.
"Penn State is an athletic team that is well-coached," said NU head coach Kelly Amonte Hiller. "With two wins against No. 1 teams already this season, they have proven they can play with anyone. With this being a conference game, and our teams being familiar with each other, I expect Penn State to come out more excited than ever.
"The environment around our Duke game last Sunday was big, but nothing can match the intensity of a conference game," she continued. "Our players know that, and they are excited for another great challenge."
By comparison, Davidson (4-8, 0-5 ALC) has struggled in 2005 -- the Wildcats from North Carolina are playing their final game in the conference and are still looking for their first win. After playing two postseason-type games before them, though, Amonte Hiller is hopeful her team does not suffer a letdown.
"It helps that both games this weekend are conference games," she said. "We need to remember what happened to us last year, when we lost once and that kept us from getting an automatic bid. We cannot overlook anyone, and Sunday's game is no exception.
"We are into our second season," Amonte Hiller continued. "We finished our nonconference season with Duke last Sunday, and now we get into ALC play. This is what is going to put us in the postseason, winning the conference."
Even though Northwestern has one home game left after this weekend -- Thursday, May 5 against Ohio State -- the Wildcats will celebrate Senior Day Sunday. This will give most of the senior parents a chance to attend the games this weekend and be there to celebrate the season and careers of their daughters, as Amonte Hiller honors the women who were her first recruits after she was hired to revive the NU lacrosse program -- Abby Alley, Shelby Chlopak, Kim Corcoran, Sara Crosby, Kate Darmody, Courtney Flynn, Ashley Gersuk, Ashley Koester, Courtney Koester, Kaitie Lenahan, Donna McCann, Meredith Philipp and Sarah Walsh.
"It is going to be great to honor our seniors, because they were the ones who first took the chance to come here," said Amonte Hiller. "But it does not feel like we will be saying goodbye, because we have so much lacrosse still to play. When it all ends for us, then maybe I will reflect on what this group has meant to the program. But for now, we are going to enjoy the day."
Some notes as the Wildcats host Penn State and Davidson this weekend...
* NU and Penn State are meeting for the seventh time in history, and the fourth time in the modern era. The Nittany Lions hold a 4-2 lead in the overall series, and a 2-1 edge since 2002. The Wildcats' only win came last year, 13-11, in University Park, Pa.
* NU and Davidson are meeting for the fourth time, all of them coming in the modern era. Northwestern has won every game in the series, including a 25-6 decision in last year's season opener at Davidson.
* NU entered the week ranked No. 1 in the IWLCA national poll for the fourth straight week; the Wildcats are the first team outside of the Eastern Time Zone to earn the top spot, and they are the first American Lacrosse Conference team to hold the No. 1 ranking.
* NU's 12-0 start is the best in program history.
* NU is 25-1 in its last 26 regular-season games, with the lone loss coming in overtime (last year vs. Vanderbilt).
* NU entered the week with the most wins in Division I this season (12) and was one of just two undefeated teams left (along with No. 7 Dartmouth).
* NU leads the nation in scoring offense (15.83 gpg), scoring defense (6.33 gpg allowed), scoring margin (+9.50), and draw controls per game (16.17).
* NU also is seventh nationally in caused turnovers per game (12.75).
* NU is averaging 16.7 goals per game since the season opener, hitting double figures in each contest.
NU's goalscoring breakdown this season
12 women scoring: 1 (Oregon)
11 women scoring: 1 (Denver)
10 women scoring: 1 (California)
9 women scoring: 2 (Connecticut, Stanford)
8 women scoring: 2 (Ohio, Penn)
7 women scoring: 1 (Notre Dame)
6 women scoring: 1 (Duke)
5 women scoring: 2 (New Hampshire, Rutgers)
4 women scoring: 1 (North Carolina)
* Only two teams have reached double figures against NU -- Notre Dame (11) and Duke (11).
* NU has trailed a total of just 19 minutes and 43 seconds in the last 11 games (a total of 660 minutes); of that, only 8:15 of it occured in the second half.
* NU has six players with 10 or more goals this season -- seniors Sarah Albrecht (13) and Courtney Flynn (12), juniors Lindsey Munday (30) and Laura Glassanos (29), and sophomores Kristen Kjellman (35) and Aly Josephs (26).
* The following goalscoring streaks are in place
(number in parentheses represents total number of games this season in which players have scored)
Kjellman 9 (10)
Munday 6 (11)
Glassanos 4 (11)
Josephs 3 (10)
Flynn 3 (8)
Albrecht 1 (9)
NOTE: Glassanos and Munday have three-game streaks with multiple goals.
Unassisted Goals This Season
Kjellman 13, Josephs 11, Glassanos 8, Munday 8, Albrecht 6, Darmody 3, Flynn 3, Bush 2, Elliott 1, Finch 1, McCandlish 1, H. Alley 1
On The NU Single-Season Lists
Assists: Munday 2nd with 30 (she needs three to break the school record of 32, set in 1988 by Maureen Mullen); Kjellman 8th with 18; Glassanos 8th with 18.
Points: Munday 8th with 60 (Kjellman, with 53, needs six to crack the Top 10).
On The NU All-Time Lists
Goals: Kjellman 7th with 88; Glassanos 8th with 77; Munday 9th with 73; Albrecht 10th with 63; Josephs 11th with 57.
Assists: Munday 3rd with 54; Albrecht 4th with 48; Glassanos 5th with 42; Kjellman t-7th with 35.
Points: Munday 5th with 127; Kjellman 7th with 123; Glassanos 8th with 119; Albrecht 9th with 117.
Saves: Ashley Gersuk 1st with 486.
NU Individuals in the National Stats:
Goals per game: Kristen Kjellman, 10th (3.18)
Assists per game: Lindsey Munday, 2nd (2.50); Kristen Kjellman, 14th (1.64); Laura Glassanos, 19th (1.40)
Points per game: Lindsey Munday, t-1st (5.00); Kristen Kjellman, 3rd (4.82); Laura Glassanos, 19th (3.92)
Draw Controls per game: Courtney Koester, t-3rd (4.17)
Goals Against Average: Ashley Gersuk, 1st (6.37)
* With seven points, Munday will match her point total from her first two seasons combined (67).
* Kjellman had eight points (5g, 3a) vs. Duke, including four unassisted goals; she is averaging 3.7 goals and 5.7 points per game in NU's last nine games, since she returned to the lineup from illness, and has scored four or more goals in five of the last six games.
* Kjellman's 12-point game vs. UConn on April 3 remains the national high for this season; in fact, no other player in the country has had a double-figure point game.
* Munday has recorded at least four points in all but one game this season, and is averaging 5.7 points per game in the last three contests.
* Annie Elliott has scored eight goals on eight shots this season, while Kristen Boege has scored seven goals on seven shots.
