LACROSSE
In case you haven’t heard, Northwestern has a decent women’s lacrosse team.
The team improved to 12-0 on the season and retained its No. 1 spot in the country with a pair of victories on the East Coast. On Friday, the ‘Cats defeated No. 12 Penn State, putting them at 3-0 in the American Lacrosse Conference and earning them a tie with No. 4 Florida for first place.
The team followed Friday's victory by completely smothering No. 8 Penn, 14-6, completing a dominating weekend over stiff competition. With a hat trick on Sunday to complement her five-goal performance on Friday, senior Shannon Smith moved into second place on Northwestern’s all-time goals list. If she maintains her current scoring rate this season, Smith will break the record in the first game of the American Lacrosse Conference Tournament; now, she’s just putting the finishing touches on her résumé as the greatest player in Northwestern women’s lacrosse history.
Northwestern has started out at least 12-0 for five consecutive seasons, but if there is any time Kelly Amonte Hiller’s team should be nervous, it’s now: in each of the two previous seasons, the Wildcats lost their 13th game.
Next up is North Carolina (13-1), whom Northwestern defeated twice last year. The ‘Cats bested the Tar Heels once in overtime, 7-6, and then again in a rematch in the NCAA Semifinals, 11-10.
Each of Northwestern’s remaining regular season games will take place at home at Lakeside Field.
BASEBALL
Last weekend, Northwestern’s baseball team appeared to be building momentum after earning its first series win of the season over Nebraska. No. 19 Purdue made sure to put a stop to that this weekend in Evanston.
Northwestern fell behind 3-0 in the first inning of the series’ first game on Friday and never recovered, falling 7-0. Even though he allowed each of those seven runs, senior Francis Brooke threw a complete game, resting the squad’s bullpen.
Saturday’s contest was a pitcher’s duel, with Purdue snagging the 3-1 victory. Down by two runs in the bottom of the ninth inning, Northwestern had men on first and third with one out but failed to complete the rally from behind, as the next two hitters each made outs.
The Wildcats were sloppy on Sunday, punishing themselves with three errors and allowing eight runs, four of which came in the fourth inning. The final score was an 8-4 Purdue victory to close out the series.
The sweep dropped Northwestern to 10th in the Big Ten standings with a 3-6 conference record.
GOLF
The Masters wasn’t the only tournament going on this weekend.
The men’s golf team won the Hoosier Invitational, a two-day, three-round tournament in Bloomington, Ind. against an array of Midwestern schools, including Indiana, Butler and Ohio.
As a team Northwestern was comfortably ahead after Saturday’s two rounds with a seven-shot advantage, while Wildcat sophomore Jack Perry had the tournament's individual lead at 5-under par.
Northwestern had three of its golfers (Perry, Eric Chun and Sam Chien) in the Top 10, but it was Chun that emerged victorious on Sunday. Chun shot 5-under during the final round to win the individual championship by five strokes, the senior's second tournament victory this season.
Perry finished in fourth and Chien tied for fifth to help the Wildcats to an 11-stroke victory.
The women were in Greensboro, N.C. for the three-day Bryan National Collegiate, and the stiffer competition proved problematic for the ‘Cats. After jumping out to a two-stroke lead after Friday’s first round, the Wildcats had a disastrous Saturday, shooting a combined 305, which pushed them back to eighth place at 11 strokes behind. The ‘Cats finished the tournament in eighth place on Sunday.
Junior Lauren Weaver had been tied for second at 1-under after shooting a 71 on Friday, but followed up with back-to-back rounds of 80 to finish tied for 50th at 15-over.
Sophomore Devon Brown and freshman Brittany Mai were Northwestern’s best individual finishers at plus-9, 13 shots behind the tournament’s winner.