No. 5 Wildcats Open 2016 Campaign at No. 4 Duke

2/6/2016 9:44:00 AM | Women's Lacrosse

NORTHWESTERN LACROSSE: GAME DAY INFORMATION
DATE	OPPONENT	TIME	LOCATION	BROADCAST	LIVE STATS
Sunday, February 7	No. 4 Duke	11 a.m.	Durham, N.C.	Live Video	GameTracker
Social: Twitter (@NULax and @NU_SportsLive) \| Instagram (@NU_Lax) \| Facebook Game Notes: Northwestern \| Duke

EVANSTON, ILL. — The fifth-ranked Northwestern Lacrosse program will open the season at No. 4 Duke on Sunday, Feb. 7 at 11 a.m. The top-5 matchup will be streamed live on GoDuke.com

'CATS COME CLOSER IN CALIFORNIA

250 IN SIGHT
Head Coach Kelly Amonte Hiller enters her 15th season as the head coach of the Northwestern Lacrosse program and is just seven wins shy of 250 for her career. Hiller has averaged 17.8 wins per season during her tenure, leading the Wildcats to seven national championships along the way. 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.

OH, CANADA!
After a phenomenal first season in which she scored a Northwestern freshman single-season record 69 goals, was named the Big Ten Freshman of the Year and earned second-team All-American honors, Selena Lasota helped her country do something it had never done before in lacrosse. Lasota and the Canadian U19 team won their first-ever U19 World Championship in Edinburgh, Scotland. The British Columbia native earned Player of the Match honors in the Gold Medal game behind three goals, two assists, three draw controls and a pair of caused turnovers. She was also named to the All-World Team.

BUILDING A PIPELINE
Another Canadian and member of the U19 World Championship team has joined the Wildcats in LIU Brooklyn transfer Danita Stroup. A junior, Stroup scored 31 goals and earned Northeastern Conference All-Rookie Team honors in 2014. She was a driving force behind the Canadians gold medal in the World Championships, scoring nine goals and dishing out 11 assists in the tournament, including a pair of helpers in the Gold Medal game against the United States.

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 is poised for a big final season for the Wildcats following a dominating finish to her junior campaign. Craig finished last season with a career-high 46 goals, 35 of which came over the last 13 games of the season. She scored at least two goals in 12-straight games from March 29 to May 10, including a career-high five in the Wildcats' NCAA second round win over Notre Dame. The Wantagh, New York, native is the team's active leading goal scorer and is just 19 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.

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. The Wildcats get things started Sunday in Durham, North Carolina, against No. 4 Duke at 11 a.m.

NEW FACES
In addition to Stroup, head coach Kelly Amonte Hiller added nine freshman to the program as a part of last season's recruiting class. Joining the Wildcats will be Ivy Arlia, Kristin Cameron, Nell Copeland, Liza Elder, Kim Harker, Claire Quinn, Mallory Weisse, Brigid White, and Leighton Yenor.

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 BLUE DEVILS
Duke opened its season Thursday with a 20-4 win over Campbell. Freshman Olivia Jenner, junior Kitty Morrissey and sophomore Kyra Harney each scored three goals, while senior goalkeeper Kelsey Duryea and the Blue Devils defense limited the Camels to just four tallies. Duryea finished with six saves in 53 minutes of action and also had six ground balls.