Pre-game:
Here we are at Lakeside Field, and what a day for lacrosse. The lake is sparkling in the background. Get out here and take a look!
Northwestern is going for a defense of the ALC Tournament Championship, in which they beat Johns Hopkins last season in Baltimore. Johns Hopkins was knocked out by NU’s opponent today, Vanderbilt. Vanderbilt is #9 in the nation, but is not as battle-tested as Northwestern is. Northwestern beat Penn State yesterday, solidifying themselves in the ALC Tournament finals for the second straight year.
Northwestern, naturally, is the #1 seed in the ALC; Vanderbilt is the #2. Northwestern beat Penn State 15-7 yesterday to get to this final.
Last year’s ALC Tournament MVP, Hannah Neilsen, had 9 points yesterday (4 goals, 5 assists). If she can continue her dominance today, there will be no stopping her from getting her second straight MVP award.
Northwestern’s defense was also stingy yesterday. Morgan Lathrop had seven saves. Northwestern needs this game to build confidence again before the start of the NCAA Championships. Stay tuned!
1st half
28:17
Didn’t take long — The ‘Cats offense has a sense of urgency and it is obvious. Danielle Spencer took the ball inside and beat a triple-team to have a wide open shot in the top of the net.
1-0 NU
23:00
Northwestern got another goal from Defending Tournament MVP Nielsen, putting the ‘Cats up 2-0. They seem to be subbing out their players a lot — reserves Sara Harrington, Meghan Plunkett, and Mary Kate Casey saw the field very early on. Perhaps Coach Amonte-Hiller is getting as many players on the field as possible in a meaningful game — good practice for the NCAA’s. Vanderbilt answers with a goal from senior Ashley Paschall, assisted by senior Attack Margie Curran, who is one of VU’s MVP’s this season. Just under the 21 minute mark, Danielle Spencer puts Northwestern back up by two with a tough goal, assisted by Nielsen.
3-1, NU
15:45
Northwestern gets another goal from Nielsen, assisted by Meredith Frank. Both of them are nominees for the Tewaarton award, the Heisman Trophy of College Lacrosse. Out of the five Tewaarton Nominees from the ALC, four are Wildcats. The other is Sasha Cielak, from Vanderbilt. Brooke Shinaberry, in goal for Vanderbilt, has been very solid. She has three saves on the ‘Cats eight shots. Unfortunately, Northwestern is just too accurate, and still has four goals. Northwestern has been taking great shots today, not forcing anything. Shinaberry is very tough, so NU has to be happy they are at least shooting good shots. Eventually, they will fall in.
4-1, NU
11:30
Vanderbilt senior Attack Margie Curran couldn’t be off the board for too long. She puts in a goal, closing the Northwestern lead to 4-2. But then, Danielle Spencer scored in tight triple coverage. Her goal was completely preposterous — she gets a hat trick in the first half. Bad news though — Spencer is helped off the field by a trainer. We’ll keep you updated on a possibly terribly-timed injury for one of NU’s offense’s stalwarts.
5-2, NU
6:36
Hannah Nielsen ties the NU record for career assists (and she’s only a junior!) with a dish to Hilary Bowen, who extends her goal-scoring streak to an astounding 36 straight games. These two some of the best in the NCAA. And both have another year left.
6-2 NU
End of Half
Casey Donahoe got her first goal putting NU up by five, and then Carter Foote answered for Vanderbilt. Vanderbilt is looking overmatched against Northwestern. NU is seizing control on offense, and taking great shots. Vanderbilt will have to play much stronger defense in the second half to have a chance in this game. Northwestern has been able to set up plays and execute them with little disruption.
Sophomore Danielle Spencer did not get back on the field in the first half, which has to concern Coach Amonte-Hiller and the Wildcats. The 6′0 titan had a hat trick in less than a half of work.
The ‘Cats are in control. Let’s see if they can close out the second half and get their second ALC Tournament title in a row. Stay tuned.
7-3, NU
2nd half:
26:51
Northwestern gets an eighth goal from leading scorer Hilary Bowen. That’s her 62nd goal on the season. Still no Danielle Spencer, which is a bit of a concern. From the press box at halftime, it was apparent that Spencer was grimacing in some pain but was walking around on her own power. She had a slight limp, but it looks like an ankle injury of some kind.
Northwestern is still putting a lot of pressure on the Vanderbilt defense. They will need to start creating turnovers if they want to come back in this game.
8-3 NU
22:08
The Wildcats were building a long possession, getting a lot of passes around but without any looks towards goal. Hilary Bowen got checked, and there was a jump ball called… a mysterious call, considering Bowen did nothing wrong. Bowen won the jump ball, and got fouled again. She took these fouls personally and ran through the defense after the foul, notching a hat trick. The ‘Cats are all business — they gave each other a few pats on the back after Bowen’s in-your-face goal and then were back to work. This team is efficient.
9-3, NU
13:15
Another goal from Bowen (four on the day) put the ‘Cats up 10-3. Minutes later, the ‘Cats get another goal from Katrina Dowd, her first. The goal was assisted by Hannah Nielsen, which is her record-setting 129th career assist. She is now tops on the NU assists list, before the end of her junior season. She has two goals and three assists, and the ‘Cats are in charge… Wait, Meredith Frank gets a goal, and another assist for Nielsen, #130. Two goals and four assists on the day for Nielsen; Frank has 1 and 1 with 11:29 to go.
12-3 NU
3:23
Reserve Meghan Plunkett notched a goal, taking over in the stead of Danielle Spencer. A fifth assist there from Nielsen. The Wildcats held on to the ball pretty much the entire time since my last post, with a few possessions and one shot on goal from the Commodores. Katrina Dowd got another goal, assisted by Frank.
Christy Finch has really showed her skills today. She has been amazing on defense, causing turnovers ubiquitously. She is a truly underrated superstar, but has been rewarded by a nomination for the Tewaarton award. The NU reserves are on the field, and this one is over.
Final Score: 14-3 Northwestern. This extends their 42-game home winning streak, and 23 straight wins in conference. They will now go into the NCAA tournament with an automatic bid and a full head of steam after sweeping the ALC Tournament for the second straight year.
Stay tuned for postgame!
Postgame
Before the Wildcats received their trophy for their second straight ALC tournament title, the All-Tournament Team was announced. NU, not surprisingly, had the most members on the team with four. They were seniors Quinn Cammarota and Christy Finch, and juniors Bowen and Nielsen. Hannah Nielsen was also MVP of the tournament for the second straight year. She had two goals and five assists, and she now is alone on top of the Northwestern.
Little known facts about Hannah Nielsen — she is the NCAA record holder for assists in a single season (with 69 — she recorded that number last season). After getting assist #131 in this game today, she now is only 47 shy of the all time record. Considering she has the NCAA tournament of her junior year and all of her senior year remaining, she will likely exceed that record sometime next year.
Hilary Bowen also has more goals in consecutive games than anyone in Northwestern history, including their superstar of the past few years, Kristin Kjellman. Kjellman had 32 straight games with an assist; Bowen is at 35. The all-time record is 66, but Bowen is 6th all-time with her current streak.
The Wildcats now stand poised for a #1, or at least a #2 seed, going into the NCAA Championships. That means that they will host their first round match barring some sort of anti-miracle. They will probably go against an at-large team (could be Cornell, North Carolina, or maybe even Vanderbilt again). At-large teams are teams that sneak in the tournament without winning a conference tournament — the same format as the Men’s Basketball tournament.
Notable Quotes:
Vanderbilt Coach Cathy Swezey
“Besides them being a really talented team, it really came down to the draw [controls]. If we had had the ball, we could have produced.”
“Hannah Nielsen… you have to play her tight. She’s really one of the most dangerous players in the country.”
NU Mid/Attack Hilary Bowen
“I was hungry to score goals. Danielle’s my best friend, and when she went down I really wanted to go in and play for her.”
About Nielsen: “She’s an amazing passer, and an amazing player all-around. It’s not just assists that she’s great at. She wins draws, plays defense… I think it’s awesome that she broke that record, and that she got player of the year for our conference, and that she got player of the tournament. She deserves it all.”
“I think that maybe we were a little too confident going into the UPenn game. They really showed us that you can’t be like that… I think the confidence comes from knowing how hard we’ve been going in practice.”
Midfielder Hannah Nielsen:
“When Spence [Danielle Spencer] went down, we kind of got in a huddle and said, let’s play for
Spence, and just keep doing what we’re doing.”
“We worked for 100% of our options, and I think that showed on the scoreboard as well today.”
“It is kind of cool [having the assists record]. I think that it’s a credit to the team. They’re the ones doing the hard work of catching my sometimes errant passes and putting them in the back of the net. It’s just a credit to them, they make my job very easy.”
Coach Kelly Amonte-Hiller:
On Nielsen: “She’s been definitely our QB. Just really steps up under pressure, and that’s what you need from leaders. You need leaders who aren’t afraid when the chips are down to really take over.”
On draw controls: “We’ve been working on it every single day in practice… Really focusing in on making some adjustments on their technique and fine-tuning them. I think going into that, they had a lot of confidence from their preparation.”
On Spencer’s injury: “She’s good. She’s got a little bit of a sore muscle. She’s just going to rest and regroup. Not right now [is there any concern for missing games in the future]. She looks fine, and from [the doctors'] initial assessment they said she should be fine.”
“We’re just going to try and get better the best we can, and seize the moment.”