Saturday, March 12

Evanston, Ill.

12 p.m.

Northwestern

3-3

Stony Brook

2-2

Team	1	2	Final F
Stony Brook	5	1	6
Northwestern	4	3	7

No. 11 'Cats Beat No. 10 Stony Brook for Second-Straight Win, 7-6

3/12/2016 3:45:00 PM | Women's Lacrosse

Box Score

EVANSTON, Ill. — The 11th-ranked Northwestern lacrosse program just needed a little home cooking and the friendly confines of Lanny and Sharon Martin Stadium on the shores of Lake Michigan to get back on track.

The Wildcats won their second-straight to even their record at 3-3, defeating No. 10 Stony Brook at home Saturday afternoon, 7-6.

Despite the one-goal victory, the Wildcats dominated the stat sheet from top to bottom. Sophmores Selena Lasota (seven) and Shelby Fredericks (five) combined for 12 draw controls as the 'Cats held a 13-2 advantage in the game and NU took 26 shots to SBU's 12. Northwestern was also a perfect 9-for-9 on clears, while Stony Brook went 15-for-18, with all three failures coming in the final 15 minutes of the game.

A heads up play by a pair of senior captains won the game for Chicago's Big Ten Team as Kaleigh Craig scored the game-winning goal with 8:04 to play. With the game tied at six apiece, Nancy Dunbar was fouled by a Seawolves defender about 14 meters from the cage. Dunbar caught the SBU defense off guard with a self start and found Craig at the 8-meter line for a 1-on-1 opportunity that she buried for her second goal of the game.

The Seawolves only had one more real chance to tie the game following Craig's game winner as their bench was given a game misconduct yellow card and Northwestern ran two minutes off the clock a man up. Stony Brook moved the ball into its offensive zone with under five to play, but Courtney Murphy was unable to handle a pass across the middle and the ball was picked up by sophomore Lindsay Darrell as the 'Cats retained possesion.

NU ran off four more minutes of the clock before the Seawolves forced a turnover with just 16 seconds to play, but sophomore Shannon Nesselbush stepped in front of a pass as SBU attempted to tie the game to seal the victory.

After Stony Brook took a 1-0 lead about four minutes into the game, the Wildcats responded with three unaswered goals to take a 3-1 lead of their own. Sophomore Corinne Wessels - who scored a career-high four goals versus Marquette on Tuesday - went over her shoulder on a feed from Craig at the 23:53 mark to tie the game before classmate Selena Lasota scored on a dish from Esposito to claim the lead with 22:43 to go in the first half, 2-1.

Craig scored her first goal of the game when she picked up a loose ball inside the 8-meter line and found herself 1-on-1 with the SBU keeper and it appeared that the 'Cats pushed their lead to 4-1 with 19 minutes go when Lasota scored a behind-the-back goal from eight meters out. The goal was disallowed however due to a stick infraction and Stony Brook came right down the field to make it a two-goal swing by scoring with 17:27 on the clock.

The goal started a 3-0 run that closed the half for the 'Wolves to give them a 5-4 lead at the break.

Northwestern continued to dominate in the draw circle after the break which led to Wessels scoring her second goal of the game and sixth of the season just 1:03 into the second half to tie the game, 5-5. Esposito came around the crease from the back of the cage and gave the Wildcats the lead with 21:02 to play, 6-5.

Murphy found herself some room on a similar play at the other end to tie the game again with 13:43 to play, 6-6. The Seawolves won the ensuing draw control and looked poised to reclaim the lead as Taylor Ranftle found herself in the open field, but senior defender Lauren Murray chased her down and caused a turnover before Ranftle could even get a shot on goal.

The turnover was the start of four-straight possessions by Stony Brook that ended with a turnover, which ultimately led to Craig scoring the game winner with 8:04 to play.

Northwestern is back in action next Sunday when it continues its four-game homestand against No. 4 North Carolina. Opening draw is scheduled for noon and the game will be broadcast in front of a national audience on the Big Ten Network.