Northwestern
Penn State
Wildcats Roll Over Penn State, 14-6
4/15/2005 12:00:00 AM | Women's Lacrosse
April 15, 2005
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EVANSTON, Ill. - Three times this season, the Penn State women's lacrosse team has walked onto the field against a team ranked No. 1. The first two times, the Nittany Lions walked off with a win.
Friday afternoon, the third time was not the charm.
No. 1 Northwestern used another quick start, and the result was a surprisingly pedestrian 14-6 victory at the Thomas Athletic Complex. The Wildcats scored the first six goals of the game, led 8-1 late in the first half, and held a 14-3 advantage before Penn State scored the last three goals of the contest.
Lindsey Munday and Kristen Kjellman were again the story on offense for the Wildcats. Munday scored five goals and had three assists, giving her 33 for the season which is a new Northwestern record. Kjellman matched her partner in crime with five goals of her own, and also had one assist.
"Our focus going into this game was to get out to a quick start, and gain control with the draws and making the most of our opportunities," said NU head coach Kelly Amonte Hiller. "Sunday against Duke, we started slowly when we had the ball, so we focused on possessing today and taking it up a notch offensively."
The Wildcats certainly succeeded in that aspect. Munday got things rolling by finishing a Kjellman feed just two minutes in, and 2:05 after that she had a nice roll dodge that led to an unassisted goal. Kjellman then converted a Munday feed, before Aly Josephs scored an unassisted goal at 11:50.
Nearly four minutes went by before Laura Glassanos scored unassisted, followed five minutes later by another individual effort by Munday to make the score 6-0.
Penn State tried to stop the bleeding, as Shari Maslin scored an unassisted goal with 7:26 left in the half, but exactly four minutes later Kjellman and Munday were back at it, the latter feeding the former for another goal. Kjellman then notched an unassisted goal with 1:33 left before halftime.
Penn State was able to go into the half with the final goal, as Lauren Bryan finished a free-position attempt with 43 seconds left.
Northwestern scored six of the first seven goals in the second half -- Munday, Glassanos and Kjellman got things started, and then after an Emily Chambers goal for PSU, Sarah Albrecht, Kjellman and Munday scored over a 10-minute span to make the score 14-3.
Penn State got a pair of goals from Jessi Lieb -- one on the free-position -- and a final tally from Maslin to close out the scoring.
Afterward, Amonte Hiller was pleased to talk about her offense.
"Lindsey and Kristen have had great seasons, obviously, but a lot of what they are getting comes off of the openings being created by our other players," she said. "Laura had another good game, Aly created some opportunities, and Sarah continues to be steady. We are difficult to defend right now, because a lot of players can score for us and are looking to go to goal."
At the other end, one of the most pleasant surprises was the play of senior goalkeeper Ashley Gersuk. A second-team All-ALC last season, behind Penn State keeper Lee Tortorelli, Gersuk has struggled this season to find her form. She was on top of her game Friday, though, coming up with eight saves. By comparison, Tortorelli had just seven stops for the Lions.
"Ashley was happy with our win against Duke, but she did not feel like she held up her end," said Amonte Hiller. "She came back this week and has worked really hard. Today she showed how good a goalie she is, and she was helped by our defense which forced a lot of tough shots."
Northwestern gave the Nittany Lions few quality chances at the goal, outshooting them 29-20 on the day, and came up with 12 caused turnovers.
The Wildcats are back in action Sunday, hosting unranked Davidson in another ALC contest. That game will begin at noon, but be preceded by Senior Day festivities as the program honors the 13 outgoing seniors.
#1 NORTHWESTERN 14, #8 PENN STATE 6
Score by Half
#8 Penn State (8-4, 2-1 ALC) 2 4 - 6
#1 Northwestern (13-0, 2-0 ALC) 8 6 - 14
Goals
NU: Kjellman 5, Munday 5, Glassanos 2, Josephs, Albrecht.
Penn State: Maslin 2, Lieb 2, Bryan, Chambers.
Assists
NU: Munday 3, Kjellman, Glassanos.
Penn State: None.
Goalkeeper Saves
NU: Gersuk 8
Penn State: Tortorelli 7
Shots: NU 29, Penn State 20
Free-Position Goals/Attempts: NU 2/6, Penn State 2/4
Ground Balls: NU 23, Penn State 18
Caused Turnovers: NU 12, Penn State 10
Draw Controls: NU 13, Penn State 9
Fouls: NU 19, Penn State 15
