No. 4 Wildcats and No. 10 Virginia to Meet in Cobb County Showcase

2/12/2016 9:46:00 AM | Women's Lacrosse

By: Kyle Kelley

NORTHWESTERN LACROSSE: GAME DAY INFORMATION
DATE	OPPONENT	TIME	LOCATION	BROADCAST	LIVE STATS
Saturday, February 13	No. 10 Virginia	11 a.m.	Kennesaw, Ga.	KSU.tv	GameTracker
Social: Twitter (@NULax and @NU_SportsLive) \| Instagram (@NU_Lax) \| Facebook Game Notes: Northwestern \| Virginia

EVANSTON, ILL. — The fourth-ranked Northwestern Lacrosse team will look to improve to 2-0 Saturday when it takes on No. 10 Virginia in the Cobb County Showcase in Kennesaw, Georgia.

250 IN SIGHT
Head Coach Kelly Amonte Hiller improved to 14-1 in season openers in her career and moved a win closer to 250 for her career. Amonte Hiller enters Saturday's contest against No. 10 Virginia with 244 career wins and just 37 losses and is 9-1 against the Cavaliers. She is a five-time IWLCA Coach of the Year, claimed the American Lacrosse Conference Coach of the Year award seven times and was inducted into the U.S. Lacrosse Hall of Fame in 2012.

RIGHT WHERE SHE LEFT OFF
Sophomore attacker Selena Lasota picked up right where she left off last season, leading the Wildcats with five goals in the victory over Duke. Lasota tallied a hat trick in the first half, scored two more goals in the second half and assisted on Kaleigh Craig's game-winning goal. It marked the sixth time in her short career that she has scored five or more goals and brought her career total to 74. The Campbell River, British Columbia native was named the Big Ten Offensive Player of the Week for her efforts, earning the award for the second time in her career. She has now scored at least two goals in 21 of her first 22 career games.

MS. DO IT ALL
Junior midfielder Sheila Nesselbush filled the stat sheet in the season opener, finishing with three goals on just four shots, a tying team-high four draw controls and a career-high four ground balls. It marked the seventh time in her career that she finished with at multiple goals, ground balls and draw controls in the game and the 'Cats are 6-1 in those games.

QUITE THE DEBUT
Freshman goalkeeper Mallory Weisse made quite the debut in the Wildcats' 11-8 win over No. 4 Duke last weekend, finishing with eight saves, one ground ball and one caused turnover to earn Inside Lacrosse National Rookie of the Week honors. Weisse made four saves in each half and is just the second freshman in program history to start a season opener.

A little hardware for our rookie goalkeeper ?? https://t.co/swHBr8veoG
— Northwestern Lax (@NULax) February 9, 2016

GROWING PAINS
With six freshman regularly in the starting lineup last season, the Wildcats still advanced to their 11th-straight NCAA Quarterfinal. Now, the Wildcats return nine starters from last season to their 2016 lineup and 79.8 percent of their scoring output. The 'Cats return their leader in goals (Lasota - 69), assists (Wessels - 20), ground balls (Sheila Nesselbush/Lindsay Darrell - 36), draw controls (Shelby Fredericks - 73) and caused turnovers (Lasota, 24).

CAPTAIN CRAIG
Senior attacker and captain Kaleigh Craig scored a pair of goals at Duke, including what proved to be the game winner. She has now scored at least two goals in 13 of her last 14 games dating back to March 29, 2015. The Wantagh, New York, native is the team's active leading goal scorer and is just 17 goals shy of 100 for her career.

"WIN THE DRAW, RULE THE WORLD"
Sophomore Shelby Fredericks will be key to the Wildcats' success this season as she returns in the draw circle after taking over the position down the stretch of her freshman campaign. Fredericks finished the year with 73 draw controls, the eighth most in NU single-season history, thanks to strong performances over the last 11 games. She won 54 draw controls (5.4/game) during the stretch, including a season-high nine against Michigan on April 2 and seven in the NCAA quarterfinal against Maryland on May 10. Fredericks helped the 'Cats win the draw battle against the Blue Devils last weekend, 12-9, finishing with a team-high four draw controls herself.

READY FOR BATTLE
Northwestern once again will play one of the toughest schedules in the country with each of their first four games on the road against 2015 NCAA Tournament teams and a total of 12 opponents that played in the postseason a year ago. The schedule features games against 12 teams that are ranked in the IWLCA preseason poll, including seven that are in the top 10 and each of the top four.

INTERNATIONAL EXPERIENCE
Freshmen Mallory Weisse and Claire Quinn also played in the U19 World Championships last summer, representing the United States on their way to a Silver Medal finish. Weisse was the team captain of the U.S.A. U-19 squad. Quinn averaged 1.63 ground balls and 0.75 caused turnovers per game in the tournament and was named the Player of the Match against Israel after scoring three goals.

SCOUTING THE CAVALIERS
Virginia will be playing its first game of the season Saturday and enters the season ranked No. 10 in the country. The Cavaliers return six starters from last season, including ACC Freshman of the Year goalkeeper Rachel Vander Kolk along with senior Kelly Boyd, who scored 35 goals last season.

LAST TIME OUT