Feb. 15, 2007
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EVANSTON, Ill. -- The quest for a third-straight NCAA crown begins at noon this Saturday as top-ranked Northwestern opens the 2007 season at fourth-ranked North Carolina in Chapel Hill, N.C. This will be the first of three-straight road games to open the season -- all against ranked opponents.
After Saturday, NU faces No. 19 Vanderbilt on Sunday, Feb. 25 in Nashville, Tenn., before taking on No. 5 Notre Dame -- a 2006 NCAA finalist -- in South Bend, Ind., March 1. NU will have its work cut out defending its NCAA crown with 11 ranked teams on the 16-game regular-season schedule.
Scouting North Carolina
Like Northwestern, the Tar Heels return a plethora of experience with nine starters and 25 letterwinnners back from last year's team that lost in the quarterfinals to the Wildcats in the NCAA Tournament. They are led by two-time All-America goalkeeper Kristen Hordy, Jenn Cook, the 2006 National Defender of the Year and All-ACC performers Melissa McCarthy and Christina Juras.
UNC Head Coach Jenny Levy
Levy is in her 12th season as the head coach at North Carolina. In 11 years she has led UNC to a 132-62 mark, three NCAA Final Fours and the 2002 ACC Championship.
The Series
This will be the fourth meeting in the all-time series with the two schools. NU has won all three times, including twice last year. The Wildcats won 6-5 in 2005 in Chapel Hill.
2005--W, 6-5 at Chapel Hill
2006--W, 18-10 at Evanston
2006--W, 17-6 at Evanston (NCAA Quarterfinals)
Amonte Hiller Unbeaten In Openers
The Wildcats will have a little more history on their side as they have won all five season openers since the program returned to varsity status in 2002.
Noting Northwestern
This year NU enters the season ranked No. 1 in virtually every preseason poll, including the IWLCA, Inside Lacrosse and Lacrosse Magazine polls.
The Wildcats return their top two goal scorers and nearly 62 percent of their scoring from a year ago, including last year's Tewaaraton Trophy Winner Kristen Kjellman who led the nation's top scoring team with 72 goals. Senior attacker and fellow All-American Aly Josephs also returns after scoring 55 goals. Making life even more miserable for opposing defenses will be last year's ALC Rookie of the Year Meredith Frank (32g, 19a) and sophomores Hilary Bowen (22g, 13a), Hannah Nielsen (14g, 9a) along with a talented crop of newcomers.
Last season Northwestern became the first team in school history to win back-to-back NCAA team titles. In 2005, just its fourth year back as a varsity team, NU became the first Wildcat squad to win an NCAA team title since 1941. They also became the first team outside of the Eastern Time Zone to win an NCAA lacrosse title, male or female, at any level.
Northwestern shattered school records for goals (333), assists (165) and points (498) in a season in 2006 and also set the record for goals per game average (15.8). They fell just short of breaking the all-time NCAA record which is 16.1.
Northwestern is 41-1 over the past two seasons and 55-3 in its last 58 games entering 2007.
With 72 goals last season, Kjellman was just the second Wildcat in program history to score 70 or more goals in a season and the first in the modern era. She also is just the second Wildcat in program history to record at least 50 goals three-straight years. She is the first to accomplish that feat since Kathleen Kochmansky did it from 1982-84.
The 2006 senior class left Northwestern as the winningest class in program history, compiling 64 wins over the last four seasons. This year's senior class enters the 2007 season with 56 wins under their belts.
Northwestern enters the season with 20-straight home wins dating to the end of the 2004 season. The NCAA record is 22.
Amonte Hiller announced the hiring of former Wildcat All-American Lindsey Munday to her coaching staff in September. Munday was a standout midfielder for the Wildcats from 2003-06, claiming first-team IWLCA All-America honors each the past two years. She is first on Northwestern's all-time list with 128 career assists, second with 268 career points and fourth with 140 goals. In 2005 she set single-season marks for points (107) and assists (54). She went out as part of the winningest senior class in school history (64 wins). She orchestrated an offense that led the nation with 15.8 goals per game last season and helped the Wildcats set school records for goals (333), assists (165) and points (498) in a season.
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