'Cats Open NCAA Tournament against Louisville

5/12/2016 9:39:00 AM | Women's Lacrosse

NORTHWESTERN LACROSSE: GAME DAY INFORMATION
DATE	OPPONENT	TIME	LOCATION	BROADCAST	LIVE STATS
Friday, May 13	Louisville	6 p.m.	South Bend, Ind.	ESPN3/Watch ESPN	GameTracker
Social: Twitter (@NULax and @NU_SportsLive) \| Instagram (@NU_Lax) \| Facebook Game Notes: Northwestern \| Louisville

EVANSTON, Ill. — Northwestern and Louisville will meet in the NCAA Tournament for the third-straight year - and second-straight in the first round - when they take the field Friday night in South Bend, Indiana at 6 p.m.

The Wildcats (10-9) fell for the first time in five meeting with the Cardinals on March 3, 10-4, but have eliminated the Cardinals from postseason play each of the last two seasons. The winner of Friday night's game will advance to the second round to face No. 6-seed Notre Dame at 1 p.m.

TOURNAMENT TIME
Northwestern qualified for its 13th-consecutive NCAA Tournament with a 10-9 record in the regular season against the nation's toughest schedule. The Wildcats played eight of the top 12 teams and top of the top 15 in the current IWLCA poll, including No. 8 Louisville and No. 6 Notre Dame.

Led by head coach Kelly Amonte Hiller, the Wildcats are 39-5 in the NCAA Tournament since the program's revival in 2002. Both Amonte Hiller's 39 wins and .887 winning percentage are tops in the NCAA. The 'Cats have won seven national championships (2005-09, 2011-12), advanced to 10-straight championship weekends from 2005-14 and have made to it at least the quarterfinals in each of the last 11 seasons.

AN ADDED ELEMENT
Everyone in the country knows that sophomore Selena Lasota can score, but it has been her ability to distribute to her teammates that has helped the Wildcats find a groove offensively in the second half of the season. After being held to 16 points (15g, 1a) in the first nine games of the season, Lasota has 45 points (32g, 13a) in the team's last 10 contests in which the Wildcats are averaging 14.1 goals per contest.

YENOR ADDS SCORING PUNCH
True freshman attacker Leighton Yenor has burst onto the scene over the Wildcats' last seven games. Yenor has scored 12 of her 14 goals during the seven-game stretch and scored at least two in four-straight games from April 17 to May 5.

CAPTAIN CRAIG
Senior attacker Kaleigh Craig has been Northwestern's most consistent player in the attack all season and enters the NCAA Tournament leading the team in goals (49), points (62), game-winning goals (4) and ground balls (33) and is third on the team with 16 caused turnovers. She has scored at least a goal in each of the last 15 games since being held scoreless against Louisville on March 3 and has 13 multi-goal games during the stretch. Craig was voted a unanimous All-Big Ten selection.

GO, GO, ESPO!
Redshirt junior captain Christina Esposito returned to the field fully healthy for the first time in three seasons this year and has put together a career year in the attacking third. Esposito leads the Wildcats with a career-high 20 assists and also has a career-high 33 goals this season. She has also been effective in the ride and is tied for second on the team with 18 caused turnovers. The Long Island native scored a pair of goals in Northwestern's 10-7 win over Louisville in the first round last season.

STONE WALLED
Mallory Weisse has put together quite the debut season as just the second freshman in program history to be named the starting goalkeeper for the Wildcats. Weisse has played all 1141:12 of action between the pipes for the 'Cats and leads the Big Ten in saves (136) and saves per game (7.2). She was twice named the Big Ten Freshman of the Week and also earned a Defensive Player of the Week honor and National Rookie of the Week honor during the regular season.

SPRING IN HER STEP
Senior captain Spring Sanders has been key to the Wildcats' defense in 2016. Sanders leads the Wildcats with a career-high 20 caused turnovers and is just two ground balls shy of her career high of 22. She had a combined five caused turnovers in the Big Ten Tournament quarterfinal and semifinal wins, which came during a stretch of six games in which she totaled 14 caused turnovers (2.3/gm).

MUELLER'S RETURN INSPIRES 'CATS
Sophomore defender and face guard specialist Ally Mueller suffered a lower-body injury in the fall and had missed all 16-regular season games before returning to the lineup in the Big Ten Tournament quarterfinal against Michigan. She earned her first start in the semifinals against Penn State, holding Nittany Lions' attacker Steph Lazo to just one shot and one assist and again started against No. 1 Maryland in the final where she held Megan Whittle to one goal and one assist before leaving the game with an upper body injury. Mueller was named to the Big Ten All-Tournament Team for her efforts.

35 to 100
Sophomore Selena Lasota became the fastest player in program history to score 100 goals when she hit the century mark versus Rutgers in what was her 35th career game. Lasota set a NU single-season freshman record with 69 goals last season and is second on the team with 47 goals this year.