Northwestern
Notre Dame
Northwestern Lacrosse Opens 2025 Season at Home Against Notre Dame and Canisius
2/6/2025 3:00:00 PM | Women's Lacrosse
EVANSTON, Ill. – Northwestern lacrosse opens the 2025 season this weekend with home matchups against Notre Dame on Friday, Feb. 7 at 7 p.m. CT and Canisius on Saturday, Feb. 9 at 1 p.m. CT. Both games will air on B1G+.
Friday's tilt against the Fighting Irish will be Izzy Scane Night. The NCAA's all-time leading scorer and two-time Tewaaraton Award winner will be in the house to sign and take pictures with fans. The first 300 fans inside Ryan Field House will receive an exclusive Izzy Scane poster.
The Wildcats lead the all-time series against Notre Dame 23-6. The teams last faced off last season in South Bend, Ind., where the Fighting Irish's 14-10 triumph was one of three Northwestern losses during the 2024 season. Scane, Erin Coykendall, and Madison Taylor each scored two goals.
Northwestern leads the all-time series against the Golden Griffins as well, having never lost in the three contests. All three matchups came between 2017 and 2019 with the 'Cats winning with an aggregate score of 47-20.
Northwestern has five players on the USA Lacrosse 2025 Preseason All-American List. Madison Taylor and Sammy White were named to the First Team. Samantha Smith earned Third Team honors, while Niki Miles, a graduate transfer attacker from Penn, and Delaney Sweitzer, a graduate transfer goalkeeper from Syracuse, were selected as Honorable Mentions.
USA Lacrosse also named Taylor as the Preseason Player of the Year and Preseason Attacker of the Year. White was recognized as Preseason Defender of the Year.
Taylor, a junior attacker from Wantagh, N.Y., was a 2024 Tewaaraton finalist, First Team All-Big Ten, and IWLCA All-American. She finished third in Division I with 83 goals and 116 points, ranking sixth nationally with 5.52 points per game. Taylor also placed fifth in the Big Ten with 1.6 assists per game and eighth with 74 draw controls, starting all 21 games for the Wildcats.
White, a senior defender from Timonium, Md., earned Second Team All-Big Ten honors in 2024. After recovering from an injury, she appeared in 16 games, recording 24 ground balls, 19 caused turnovers, and 38 draw controls.
The Wildcats host a national championship rematch against Boston College on Feb. 15 at noon CT inside Ryan Fieldhouse. The game can be found on B1G+.
