Northwestern University Athletics
Northwestern
Princeton (NCAA Quarterfinal)
Wildcats March On to Semifinal Round, 8-6
5/15/2005 12:00:00 AM | Women's Lacrosse
May 15, 2005
NU-Princeton Box Score in PDF Format
Download Free Acrobat Reader
EVANSTON, Ill. - Sunday afternoon at the Leonard B. Thomas Athletic Complex, the Northwestern women's lacrosse team showed the depth and mettle that championship teams need at this time of year.
Playing against the program that has set the standard in this young 21st century, Northwestern was held to less than half of its per-game scoring average and was beaten in the draw-control category for the first time this season. Even with those factors in place, the Wildcats gutted out an 8-6 victory in front of 1,200 fans who left no doubt that this was a postseason game.
As a result, Northwestern (19-0) -- in just its fourth year back as a varsity program -- moves on to the NCAA semifinal round for the first time in program history (including the first era of lacrosse, from 1982-92). NU also is just the second team from outside the Eastern Time Zone to advance this far in the postseason, following fellow ALC member Vanderbilt who broke the barrier just a year ago.
Princeton (13-5), the tournament's eighth seed, saw its season close short of the semifinal round for the first time since 1999; the Tigers came to Evanston having played in three straight championship games, winning titles in 2002 and 2003.
In a game that was played deliberately by both sides, the top-seeded Wildcats could have looked to a number of excuses had they lost. Second-leading scorer Kristen Kjellman looked slightly off her game, perhaps still suffering some effects from her ankle injury Thursday -- uncharaceristically, she only put one of her five shots in the game on goal (in fact, in the goal), and came up with no draws. Third-leading scorer Laura Glassanos, meanwhile, was again on the sidelines on crutches; and just three days removed from her seven-goal game against Mount St. Mary's, Aly Josephs only dented the net once Sunday.
Enter Sarah Albrecht.
The senior -- NU's leading scorer in 2002, its inaugural year back, before she was sidelined in 2003 with a knee injury -- reminded everyone just how dangerous she can still be. Albrecht came up with a game-high four goals, matching her season and career high set during the regular season against Johns Hopkins. In addition, she scooped up four of NU's seven draws on the day.
"This was definitely my biggest game in college," said Albrecht in the postgame press conference.
"This was an awesome day for our program," said NU head coach Kelly Amonte Hiller. "The tremendous support from the Northwestern community, and the success we had today, just made this a great experience."
Lindsey Munday netted four points on the day, scoring the Wildcats' final goal after assisting three scores earlier in the day. The nation's leading scorer now has 101 points this season, one shy of the school record set during the previous era of lacrosse.
Albrecht and Munday gave a harbinger of things to come just 1:34 into the contest, connecting for NU's first goal. More than 10 minutes went by before Princeton's Kathleen Miller knotted things up with an unassisted goal.
Another three minutes passed before Munday fed Kjellman for her only goal of the day, but again Princeton had the answer, when Ivy League Player of the Year Lindsey Biles finished a Miller feed.
Josephs put Northwestern back in front with 11:45 left in the first half on an unassisted goal, and then more than 10 minutes passed before Albrecht scored her own unassisted goal with 1:18 to play before the break. As a result of those efforts, the 'Cats went to the half up 4-2.
Albrecht moved the lead to 5-2 exactly one minute into the second half, before Ingrid Goldberg scored off a feed from Biles just 28 seconds later to make the score 5-3. Northwestern seemed like it might be making one of its patented runs in the next few minutes, as unlikely scorer Donna McCann finished a Kjellman feed -- just McCann's fourth goal this season -- and then Albrecht notched her fourth of the day thanks to a Munday feed.
Princeton called timeout, and things settled down significantly after that. In fact, more than 12 minutes would pass before either team would hit paydirt -- and when it happened, it was the Tigers who scored, as Biles finished a Jamie Sundheim feed. However, Northwestern was able to get that goal back less than two minutes later when Munday converted a free-position effort.
While Northwestern -- up 8-4 at that point -- began slowing the game down and playing possession, the Tigers worked frantically to cut into their deficit. One came back with 6:36 left when Goldberg scored off a Caitlin Reimers feed. Then, just when it seemed like NU might be able to run the clock out, an errant feed in front of its own goal was picked up by Princeton's Ashley Amo, who easily converted to make the score 8-6 with 1:52 left and an important draw coming up.
As they had eight times before on the day, the Tigers came up with the draw. However, as they passed the ball into the offensive zone, NU's Annie Elliott put her stick out, deflected the ball to the ground, and scooped up the ground ball. Northwestern was able to push the ball forward, and run the clock out to secure the victory.
(1) NORTHWESTERN 8, (8) PRINCETON 6
NCAA Quarterfinal Round Game
Score by Half
(8) Princeton (13-5) 2 4 - 6
(1) Northwestern (19-0) 4 4 - 8
Goals
NU: Albrecht 4, Josephs, Kjellman, Munday, McCann.
Princeton: Biles 2, Goldberg 2, Miller, Amo.
Assists
NU: Munday 3, Kjellman.
Princeton: Miller, Biles, Sundheim, Reimers.
Goalkeeper Saves
NU: Gersuk 5
Princeton: Kolodner 6
Shots: NU 22, Princeton 13
Free-Position Goals/Attempts: NU 1/5, Princeton 0/1
Ground Balls: NU 23, Princeton 19
Caused Turnovers: NU 12, Princeton 8
Draw Controls: Princeton 9, NU 7
Fouls: Princeton 24, NU 11
