Friday, March 25

Evanston, Ill.

12 p.m.

Northwestern

4-4

Colorado

6-2

Team	1	2	Final F
COLO	4	2	6
Northwestern	7	4	11

No. 7 'Cats Close Homestand with Win Over Colorado, 11-6

3/25/2016 3:23:00 PM | Women's Lacrosse

Box Score

EVANSTON, Ill. — Freshman Mallory Weisse made nine saves in the second half and sophomore Shelby Fredericks set a new career high for draw controls as the seventh-ranked Northwestern lacrosse program took down Colorado to wrap up a four-game homestand at Lanny and Sharon Martin Stadium Friday afternoon, 11-6.

Fredericks set a new career high with 10 draw controls, breaking her own mark for the second-best in a single game in NU history. The sophomore has 34 draw controls over her last four games (8.5/game).

The Wildcats (4-4) built a comfortable 7-4 lead in the first half on a pair of goals by senior Kaleigh Craig and an 11-1 advantage in the draw circle, but a 20-minute stretch in the second half that included nine turnovers by the 'Cats allowed the Buffaloes (6-2) to cut their deficit to one, 7-6.

Thankfully for Chicago's Big Ten Team, Weisse was up to the challenge. The freshman keeper made just one save in the first half, but made four consecutive saves on one possession at one point during the second half and came up with arguably her biggest save of the season with 6:43 to play.

The Buffs won the ensuing draw control after cutting the lead to one and Darby Kiernan, the team's leading goal scorer who had two goals already, found herself one-on-one with Weisse. Kiernan opted to go to Weisse's strong side and the freshman keeper made the stop point-blank and corraled a ground ball to protect the one-goal lead.

Sophomore Selena Lasota - who had been limited to five goals over her last five games and had yet to score against Colorado - then closed the door on any chance of a Colorado comeback by scoring three goals in a span of 4:2.

Molly Rovzar was called for a hold on Lasota in the crease with just over five minutes to play to give Lasota a free-position attempt that she successfully completed for her first goal of the game. Junior Catie Ingrilli scooped up a groundball off a Craig shot that hit the crossbar and scored her fifth goal of the season and then Lasota scored two more goals to help the 'Cats finish the game with four-unanswered tallies.

Lasota's second goal came with 2:44 to play on a nifty backhand shot after beating a pair of CU defenders and her third came with just 45 seconds remaining to put an exclamation point on the victory. Craig was credited with her fifth assist of the season on the final goal.

The Wildcats were able to dominate possession in the first half thanks to an 11-1 advantage in the draw control circle, eight of which were won by Fredericks. After the 'Cats went down, 1-0, on a goal by Cali Castagnola, they scored three unanswered over the course of five minutes to take a 3-1 lead.

Sophomore Corinne Wessels scored on a feed from junior Christina Esposito to tie the game and then Esposito got in on the act herself with her eighth goal of the year. Craig capped the run with 18:56 to go in the first half.

Johnna Fusco scored with 14:46 to go in the first half to cut the 'Cats' lead to one, 3-2, but Fredericks found junior Danita Stroup for her sixth goal of the season and senior captain Nancy Dunbar converted a free-position attempt with 11:31 left in the half to push the lead back to three, 5-2.

Colorado scored a pair of unanswered goal to cut its deficit to one, 5-4, but Chicago's Big Ten Team was able to go into halftime with a 7-3 lead after Fredericks scored on a dish from Esposito and Craig buried her second goal of the game despite the 'Cats being a man down with 4:04 on the clock.

The Wildcats finished with a 15-4 advantage in the draw control cirlce and have now outdrawn their opponents 59-24 over the last four games. The 'Cats also held a 19-17 advantage in ground balls and were 3-for-6 in free-position shots while Colorado attempted just one.

In addition to matching her season high with 10 saves, Weisse led the 'Cats with a team-season high six ground balls. Sophomore Lindsay Darrell had season-high four ground balls and tied her season high with a team-high two caused turnovers.

Northwestern now turns its attention to Big Ten Conference play starting next Thursday when it travels to No. 1 Maryland. The Wildcats and Terrapins will open Big Ten play on the Big Ten Network for the second-straight season with opening draw scheduled for 6 p.m. CT.