Sunday, April 10

Evanston, Ill.

1 p.m.

Northwestern

6-6

Notre Dame

10-4

Team	1	2	Final F
Notre Dame	3	9	12
Northwestern	9	8	17

Photo by: Stephen J. Carrera

Wildcats Cap Impressive Week with Win over No. 5 Notre Dame, 17-12

4/10/2016 4:14:00 PM | Women's Lacrosse

Box Score

EVANSTON, Ill. — Head Coach Kelly Amonte Hiller said postgame that her team has "flipped a switch."

Hiller's 13th-ranked Wildcats capped an impressive week Sunday afternoon by defeating No. 5 Notre Dame in a cold and rainy contest at Lanny and Sharon Martin Stadium, 17-12.

The Wildcats (6-6) defeated Michigan on Thursday night, 20-4, and showed no signs of slowing down offensively Sunday. The 'Cats' 17 goals were the most scored on a Notre Dame team that had limited nine teams to less than 10 goals and ranked 12th in the country by allowing just 7.38 goals per contest. Northwestern has now scored 37 goals over its last two games and 50 over its last three.

The Fighting Irish (10-4) also entered Sunday's contest ranked ninth in the country in draw controls per game, but sophomore Shelby Fredericks dominated the draw control circle for most of the day, finishing with a career-high 12 draw controls and helping the Wildcats' hold a 20-11 advantage in the circle.

Sophomore Selena Lasota led the Wildcats with five goals and junior Christina Esposito scored four goals and dished out an assist for her third-consecutive five-point game. Senior attacker Kaleigh Craig had two goals and a career-high two assists and Fredericks finished with a hat trick to go along with her 12 draw controls. In the end, the Wildcats' four starting attackers combined for 17 points on the day.

Northwestern won the first nine draw controls of the game, but turnovers early proved costly as the Irish capitalized with two early goals to take a 2-0 lead. From there though it was all Northwestern as the 'Cats closed the first half on a 9-1 run to take a 9-3 advantage into the break.

Esposito opened the scoring for the Wildcats at the 25:53 mark of the first half and Craig followed just 33 seconds later to tie the game, 2-2. Freshman Kim Harker made a heads up play by batting a high ball into the back of the cage on a save by the Irish with 23:10 on the clock to give the 'Cats a lead they never relinquished.

The run continued on a free-position goal by Fredericks and Lasota forced a turnover on the clear and scored her first goal of the game with 18:04 left in the half. The Irish took a timeout and seemed to slow the Wildcats for a brief moment, scoring their last goal of the first half with 12:02 to play to cut the lead to 5-3.

Esposito found Fredericks just 35 seconds after the Irish goal on a great feed from behind the cage and junior Catie Ingrilli continued her stellar play with a free-position goal with 7:53 on the clock. Lasota capped a hat trick and the first half scoring with two more goals to extend the lead to 9-3 at the break. The first came on a spin move through three defenders and the second with just 39 seconds left in the half on one of her patented free-position attempts.

Lasota made it four goals less than two minutes into the second half with yet another free position, but the Irish made an adjustment in the draw control circle and began to chip away at the lead.

Notre Dame, behind the play of Courtney Fortunato, was able to cut the Wildcats' lead to as little as three, 11-8, when she scored her third goal of the second half and fourth of the game. The Wildcats called a timeout to calm things down and Esposito responded by scoring on a feed from Ingrilli with 14:12 to go and again with 11:57 to play.

Fortunato scored her fifth goal of the game with 10:58 to play to cut the deficit back to four, 13-9, but was called for her second yellow card just nine seconds later and was disqualified from the remainder of the game.

A turnover by the Irish four minutes later allowed Craig to find Lasota all alone behind the defense for her fifth goal of the game and sophomore Hayley Ciklin got in on the act with her first goal of the season with 4:29 to play. Ciklin found Craig with 1:34 to play to essentially put the game away, but the exclamation point came on a transition goal from Esposito with 20 seconds on the clock for the final 17-12 tally.

Defensively, freshman goalkeeper Mallory Weisse made eight saves in the cage while Craig and Ingrilli each caused a pair of turnovers. Ingrilli led the 'Cats with three ground balls, while Craig, Harker and senior Lauren Murray each had a pair.

The Wildcats will be back in action on Friday, April 15 when they play host to undefeated USC. Opening draw is scheduled for 7 p.m. CT.

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