Northwestern University Athletics
Northwestern
Dartmouth (NCAA Championship)
NATIONAL CHAMPS AGAIN! Northwestern Defeats Dartmouth 7-4
5/28/2006 12:00:00 AM | Women's Lacrosse
May 28, 2006
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BOSTON - Northwestern has done it again!
The Wildcats (20-1) captured their second straight NCAA national championship with a 7-4 victory over Dartmouth Sunday afternoon in front of a record crowd of 5,684 at Boston University's Nickerson Field.
Aly Josephs (Reisterstown, Md./Franklin) scored four goals to lead the Wildcats. Tournament MVP Sarah Albrecht (Braintree, Mass./Thayer) added two goals and an assist for the Wildcats, who became the first team in school history to win back-to-back NCAA team titles.
Northwestern also became the third school to repeat as the NCAA Division I women's lacrosse champion. The last to accomplish the feat was Princeton (2002-03) while Maryland won titles from 1995-2001. The Wildcats are the sixth school to win multiple NCAA Division I women's lacrosse titles.
But things didn't look so good for Northwestern early on. Northwestern, the nation's top scoring team at 16.2 goals per game coming in, had a hard time finding the back of the net early on against the nation's top scoring defense. Northwestern took 15 shots in the first period, five of which hit the post or cross bar, scored just two goals and committed an uncharacteristic nine turnovers.
And oh yea, its star player went down with a ankle injury.
Kristen Kjellman (Westwood, Mass./Westwood), Northwestern's leading scorer and a finalist for the Tewaaraton Award as the nation's top player, left the game with 1:05 remaining in the first half with a sprained ankle. She returned early in the second half, but was held without a point for the only time this season.
With Kjellman ailing, Northwestern -- the nation's highest scoring team -- was held to a season low in goals scored. But the Wildcats relied on a stingy defense to outscore Dartmouth 5-1 in the second half and hold the Big Green scoreless for the final 24:49.
"We felt like we need a little bit more of a boost offensively," said NU head coach Kelly Amonte Hiller. "(Albrecht) responded right from that first whistle. I don't think it mattered where I put her, she was just on a mission to really put the team on her back and lead this team to another championship.
"Although it wasn't our best offensive day, it was our defense that helped us win the national title this weekend. I'm thrilled for our girls."
Lindsey Munday (Mountain Lakes, N.J./Mountain Lakes) also scored for the Wildcats to tie the game at 1-1 in the first half. Munday ends her NU career as Northwestern's career assist leader with 128.
Northwestern trailed 1-0, 3-2 and 4-3 before scoring the game's final four goals to come away with the win.
Albrecht's second goal of the second half tied it at 4-4 with 22:06 remaining in the game. Josephs then bounced the ball off the ground and past Dartmouth goalie Devon Wills for the winning score with 20:27 left.
Josephs added two more late goals to put the game out of reach.
"Kristen has done so much for us all year, I just wanted to step up," Josephs said. "We were kind of playing for her and we knew somebody would step up."
Northwestern outshot Dartmouth 22-10 and Morgan Lathrop made two saves to help the Wildcats hold their fifth opponent of the year to five goals or less. The two teams combined for the lowest point total in a championship game since 1985.
"They really flustered our attackers," Wills said. "They flustered us in the midfield, they really knew how to get us out of our rhythm."
Northwestern, which also set a season low for goals in a half after hitting the post five times in the first half, trailed 3-2 at halftime. But Albrecht tied it at 3 early in the second half, and the teams traded goals before Northwestern's scoring barrage.
"I think (Albrecht) is their heart and soul," Dartmouth coach Amy Patton said. "The kid plays with a lot of emotion. When Kjellman went out, I knew that (Albrecht) would probably be the one to step it up."
(The Associated Press contributed to this story.)
