Hey guys — welcome to Towson, Md. It’s getting close to 80 degrees here outside of Baltimore, and the anticipation is, well, heating up.
Your Northwestern Wildcats are going for their fourth consecutive national championship, and the team that stands in their way is the only team to defeat them this year — The University of Pennsylvania Quakers. They, like the Wildcats, only have one loss on the year.
The key to this game for Northwestern is to put the pressure on Penn’s tough defense from start to finish. Penn is 12-0 when their opponent shoots less than 20 times in a game. Northwestern is generally a high-scoring team that shoots a lot (fairly accurately). However, against Penn, Northwestern only notched 7 goals, roughly ten below their average for the season.
Hilary Bowen had 6 goals last game. Penn surely has prepared for her high-scoring ways, but Bowen and the rest of the high-scoring ‘Cats (Nielsen, Donahoe, Spencer) need to step it up today.
Let’s see what Coach Hiller has prepared for the best team in the land against their best opponent. I’ll echo the surprisingly large crowd outside the pressbox, who is chanting, “Let’s Go Cats!”
Stay tuned for the in-game blog.
21:30
Sophomore Midfielder (M) Ali Deluca scored within the first minute for Penn, giving them an early lead against a flustered defense. However, the ‘Cats regained their composure and set a triple-pick for stud M Hannah Nielsen, her 49th of the season. She usually gets her goals in the second half, but scores early here.
This is sort of typical Northwestern first half. They rarely come out blazing, and look like they’re still settling and getting in rhythm. This is a tough defense that NU is dealing with, and they are totally controlling possession for now. This almost always bodes well — how can your opponents score if they don’t have the ball?
1-1 Tie
14:00
Northwestern gets another goal from new starter Meghan Plunkett, a Towson native, off of a brilliant pass from Hilary Bowen. The defense shifted to accommodate Bowen, but then missed a wide-open Plunkett in front of the net. That puts the ‘Cats up 2-1.
Then, some of the usual — Nielsen to Bowen, goal. 40 consecutive games with a goal for Bowen, with 79 for the year. Nielsen has 61 assists for the year — the duo has at least one point together in 44 straight games.
3-1 NU
11:30
Northwestern gets their fourth goal from a fourth different scorer — Katrina Dowd gets her 40th goal of the season. Nielsen gets assist #62 off of that goal.
Northwestern controls the draw after the goal, and it seems like they have controlled every one since the game started. Penn’s barely had the ball as a result. Northwestern has 11 shots already — Penn has 2.
4-1 NU
7:30
Penn gets on the board again with a goal from Kaitlyn Lombardo, a junior M. Northwestern still has been controlling the ball for the majority of the game, winning 5 of the 7 draw controls and following them up with long possessions.
In some ways, it looks like Northwestern has been fairly cautious. Penn is running upfield in a hurry; Northwestern is building possessions after a series of cross-field passes.
Morgan Lathrop has three saves, including two brilliant ones from short range. She started the game staring directly into the setting sun across the field — tough on a goalie’s vision.
Still no more goals since Lombardo’s.
4-2 NU
0:11
Christy Finch gets the ball around midfield with 30-some seconds left, and then Meredith Frank gets it and nets a goal with 11 seconds left, which will presumably give the ‘Cats a 3-goal lead going into halftime. Crucial boost of momentum to end the half for Northwestern.
5-2 NU
Halftime
Penn somehow got a shot with 1 second left, because they got a free possession opportunity after a foul from Kristin McCandlish, but Morgan Lathrop makes an acrobatic save in a one-on-one situation to preserve the 3-goal lead at halftime.
Still, 5-2 NU