As the academic year at Northwestern comes down the home stretch, each Wildcat team is coming down to crunch time in their season. While some are passing their final tests, others are failing to close out the season.
WOMEN’S LACROSSE
Northwestern women’s lacrosse has been a juggernaut equivalent of the Geno Auriemma-coached Connecticut basketball team in recent years, which caused many to hit the panic button after the Wildcats’ two — yes, two — losses this season. But since those losses, the team has gotten back on track.
After winning the American Lacrosse Conference Championship last week by avenging their regular season loss to Florida, the Wildcats won their opening game of the NCAA Championship, defeating Boston College, 11-8. Junior Shannon Smith continued her remarkable season with her third straight five-goal game. She now has 113 points on the season. The next closest on the team is Erin Fitzgerald with 39.
Smith and the Wildcats will take on Albany in the second round of the NCAA Tournament on Saturday.
SOFTBALL
Although softball head coach Kate Drohan officially has the 10th winning season of her 10-year Northwestern career under her belt, the Wildcats went out of the 2011 season with a whimper.
They wrapped up the year this week on the road against the Penn State Nittany Lions. On Friday, they were up 2-0 after three innings against the conference foe, but the wheels fell off in the fourth when Penn State broke out for a six-run half, en route to a 6-3 win. On Saturday, the Wildcats only allowed five hits, but did not have enough offensive firepower to support the defense, dropping the game 3-2.
Softball really struggled down the stretch, losing seven of its last eight. The team finished at 23-20 this season, finishing 10th in the Big Ten at 5-13, and is in danger of missing the postseason for the second consecutive year.
BASEBALL
Northwestern baseball spent the entire week at home, and despite the up-and-down weather conditions in Evanston, the team settled into their hottest streak of the 2011 season.
First, they clipped a pair of local opponents, taking out the UIC Flames 3-2 on Tuesday behind a solid outing from starter Francis Brooke. On Wednesday, they escaped with a win against the University of Chicago, 4-3, behind clutch ninth-inning pitching from Paul Snieder and Kyle Ruchim. The two pitchers struck out three straight Chicago batters to end the contest.
Snieder then showed why he is the Wildcats’ most versatile player when the team returned to Big Ten play on Friday against Michigan. His seventh-inning grand slam helped bust the game open, as Northwestern went on to a 7-1 win. On Saturday, the rest of the team followed Snieder’s lead, as the ‘Cats exploded for 20 hits in an 11-6 victory. The team was finally slowed down on Sunday, but not by the Wolverines. Weather conditions finally got the better of them, as their Senior Day was rained out.
They are now tied for seventh in the Big Ten at 9-11 in conference play, with a 19-27 record overall, and will finish the season on the road against Michigan State this weekend.
WOMEN’S TENNIS
With all the Spring Quarter sports attention going to women’s lacrosse, the women’s tennis team’s accomplishments this season may have slid under the radar for some students. But the Wildcats have been rolling as the NCAA Championships kicked off this week. They shut out both IPFW and Notre Dame on Friday and Saturday, respectively, to move into the Round of 16, their 11th time doing so in the past 12 years. The Wildcats will look to continue their good fortune when they face No. 1 Stanford on Friday in Palo Alto.