No. 1 Wildcats Hit the Hop Friday

4/20/2005 12:00:00 AM | Women's Lacrosse

April 20, 2005

EVANSTON, Ill. - After three straight weekends of playing two games at home -- one Friday, one Sunday -- the No. 1-ranked Northwestern women's lacrosse team has just one game this weekend. And it's on the road.

#1 Northwestern (14-0, 3-0) vs. #11 Johns Hopkins (9-3, 3-1)
Friday, April 22 * 7 p.m . (6 p.m. Central)
Homewood Field (Baltimore, Md.)
Click here to see the ESPN.com feature on the Wildcats!

However, the dynamics surrounding Friday's American Lacrosse Conference game at No. 11 Johns Hopkins (to be played at 7 p.m. Eastern) will not change the Wildcats' preparation, according to head coach Kelly Amonte Hiller.

"There will not be any major changes on our part," she said. "We are excited about this game -- it is on the road, but obviously we have a lot of east coast players and so a lot of them will be playing in front of their families and friends. They are also looking forward to playing at Homewood Field, one of the most recognizable places to lacrosse fans, and the fact that it's a night game will only add to the atmosphere.

"Playing just once this weekend probably helps us as coaches, because we can focus all our attention on that one team," she continued. "If you are a player, though, I don't think it makes a big difference. You just want to play, whether it's once, twice, or more."

Homewood Field is indeed one of the hallowed grounds of American lacrosse, but Amonte Hiller is not concerned about her team coming out starry-eyed by the surroundings.

"We are focusing for this game the same way we always focus -- what are the things we need to do to be successful?" she said. "We cannot worry about this, that, and the other thing. We need to take care of the things we can take care of, and everything else will fall into place."

Friday's game will be Northwestern's third against a ranked team in less than two weeks -- after a 16-11 win over No. 2 Duke on April 10, the Wildcats had little trouble disposing of then-No. 8 Penn State last Friday. However, Amonte Hiller knows that even though Hopkins may be ranked behind the Nittany Lions, the host Blue Jays will provide stiff competition.

"They are a great team with plenty of great players," she said. "They are always well-prepared for their opponents. They have a superior sophomore in Mary Key, who was picked to share the ALC Player of the Year with Kristen Kjellman, and a nice mix of veteran talent and some really great young players."

The Northwestern bandwagon has been picking up steam the last few weeks, and along the way a number of passengers have climbed aboard. USA Today had a feature last Friday on the `Cats, and earlier this week ESPN.com had a close look at the team (see above). However, Amonte Hiller has worked hard to keep her team from reading the accolades and believing them.

"We talk a lot about that stuff," she said. "This team has done a good job of taking it game-by-game. The publicity we have gotten the last few weeks has been great for the program, but we need to stay prepared and focused -- just because people are taking notice of us, that does not mean we have done the job. We haven't -- yet."

Some notes as the Wildcats head to Baltimore this weekend...
* NU and Johns Hopkins are meeting for the fourth time in the modern era of NU lacrosse, with the Blue Jays leading the series 2-1. Last year, the Wildcats earned a 15-8 victory in Evanston. The only meeting in Baltimore took place in 2002, NU's inaugural year back as a varsity program, and JHU won 11-7.

* NU entered the week ranked No. 1 in the IWLCA national poll for the fifth 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 14-0 start is the best in program history.

* NU is 27-1 in its last 28 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 (14) and was one of just two undefeated teams left (along with No. 7 Dartmouth).

* NU has set program records for assists (119) and points (343) in a season, and with 224 goals the Wildcats need 15 to break that single-season record set last year.

* NU leads the nation in scoring offense (16.00 gpg), scoring defense (6.07 gpg allowed), scoring margin (+9.93), and draw controls per game (16.21).

* NU also is fifth nationally in caused turnovers per game (12.29).

* NU is averaging 16.8 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: 2 (California, Davidson)
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: 3 (New Hampshire, Rutgers, Penn State)
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 13 games (a total of 780 minutes); of that, only 8:15 of it occured in the second half.

* NU has four players with 30 or more goals this season -- juniors Lindsey Munday (38) and Laura Glassanos (35), and sophomores Kristen Kjellman (41) and Aly Josephs (30).

* Seniors Sarah Albrecht (17) and Courtney Flynn (14) also are in double figures in goals.

* The following goalscoring streaks are in place
(number in parentheses represents total number of games this season in which players have scored)
Kjellman 11 (12)
Munday 8 (13)
Glassanos 6 (13)
Josephs 5 (12)
Albrecht 3 (11)
NOTE: Glassanos and Munday have five-game streaks with multiple goals.

Unassisted Goals This Season
Kjellman 14, Josephs 13, Munday 11, Glassanos 10, Albrecht 7, Darmody 3, Flynn 3, Bush 2, Elliott 1, Finch 1, McCandlish 1, H. Alley 1, Finocchiaro 1, C. Koester 1, Lenahan 1, Cammarota 1

On The NU Single-Season Lists
Assists: Munday 1st with 39; Kjellman 5th with 25; Glassanos t-8th with 19.
Points: Munday 4th with 77 (modern era record); Kjellman 7th with 66.

On The NU All-Time Lists
Goals: Kjellman 6th with 94; Glassanos 8th with 83; Munday 9th with 81; Albrecht 10th with 67; Josephs 11th with 61.
Assists: Munday 2nd with 63; Albrecht 4th with 49; Glassanos 5th with 43; Kjellman 6th with 42.
Points: Munday 4th with 144; Kjellman 5th with 136; Glassanos 7th with 126; Albrecht 9th with 122.
Saves: Ashley Gersuk 1st with 496.

NU Individuals in the National Stats:
Goals per game: Kristen Kjellman, 14th (3.15) Assists per game: Lindsey Munday, 1st (2.79); Kristen Kjellman, 7th (1.92)
Points per game: Lindsey Munday, 1st (5.50; Kristen Kjellman, 3rd (5.08)
Draw Controls per game: Courtney Koester, 3rd (4.07); Kristen Kjellman, 17th (2.92)
Goals Against Average: Ashley Gersuk, 2nd (6.25)

* Munday and Kjellman both had five-goal games against Penn State last Friday, then tied a modern record with six assists apiece against Davidson Sunday.

* Kjellman had a combined 14 points (10g, 4a) vs. No. 2 Duke and No. 8 Penn State, including five unassisted goals; she is averaging 3.5 goals and 5.3 points per game in NU's last 11 games, since she returned to the lineup from illness, and has scored four or more goals in six of the last eight games.

* Kjellman's 12-point game vs. UConn on April 3 remains the national high for this season.

* Munday has recorded at least four points in all but one game this season, and is averaging 6.8 points per game in the last five contests.

* Annie Elliott has scored eight goals on eight shots this season, while Kristen Boege has seven goals on seven shots.