Northwestern
Duke
Top-Ranked Wildcats Get Past Duke, 16-11
4/10/2005 12:00:00 AM | Women's Lacrosse
April 10, 2005
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EVANSTON, Ill. - For the uninitiated -- and there are still many in the Chicagoland area -- Sunday's women's lacrosse game between No. 1 Northwestern and No. 2 Duke at the Wildcats' Thomas Athletic Complex had all the elements that make this game great.
The weather? Perfect. Sunny, with the temperatures in the 70s. A slight wind. To the east, kites flew. Beyond that, fans could look out on a Lake Michigan that sparkled in the sun. All in all, an ideal day for lacrosse.
The atmosphere? Amazing. Tailgates prior to the game. A plane flew by pulling a banner: "Go Cats...Beat Duke!" Vocal support for both teams. Before too long, the field was almost entirely surrounded by more than 1,000 fans, giving the game the emotional feel of mid-May (and NCAA Tournament time) and not mid-April.
The game? Oh, man. The game.
If you were not a fan of the game before Sunday, you sure were by the time it was over. Both teams displayed powerful attacks, fleet feet, and bruising defense. The result was a spirited and highly entertaining contest that saw Northwestern come out on top, 16-11.
"I was so excited by the support today -- from the Northwestern students, the parents, really from the entire community," said NU head coach Kelly Amonte Hiller following the game. "We are surrounded by amazing people here at Northwestern, and today was one of those days that it really showed."
Amazing would be a good word to describe the first few minutes of Sunday's game. The Blue Devils took the opening draw, and just 1:09 into the contest Leigh Jester converted a free-position shot to open the scoring. Even more shocking was the next draw, as Katie Chrest controlled it and quickly fed a breaking Kristen Waagbo. Only seven seconds went off the clock, and it was 2-0.
Before the Duke fans had even stopped cheering, it was 2-1. Off the draw, Northwestern got the ball to Aly Josephs, who beat her defender about 30 yards out and went in uncontested to cut the Blue Devil lead in half. A grand total of 10 seconds had elapsed.
The fans finally got to catch their breath, as more than three minutes went by before NU tied it up on Lindsey Munday's free-position goal.
Duke scored the game's next four goals in a span of 4:37, however, gaining the momentum. Chrest got the run started with an unassisted tally, followed by unassisted goals from Michelle Menser and Rachel Sanford just 23 seconds apart. Northwestern took a timeout, but three minutes later Katie Laschinger finished a free-position shot and the score was 6-2.
"Duke seemed to be really prepared for our defense," said Amonte Hiller. "They moved the ball well and got some open opportunities and converted them. Out of the timeout, we wanted to possess the ball. We were not smart the first 5-10 minutes of the game, but after that I thought we were."
Indeed, once Northwestern scored its third goal the sleeping giant that is the Wildcat offense awoke.
Laura Glassanos finished a feed from Lindsey Munday. Just 18 seconds later, the two reversed roles for another Wildcat goal, and then 1:11 after that Glassanos finished an individual effort. Just forty-nine more seconds would elapse before Josephs tied things up off a feed from Kristen Kjellman.
That was Kjellman's first point of the game, but it was far from her last.
The sophomore All-America took control at that point, finishing a feed from Munday to give NU the 7-6 lead with 13:08 left in the half. She then fed Courtney Flynn for a goal, before scoring her second of the day unassisted. Aly Josephs ended the Wildcats' 8-0 run with another unassisted goal, and suddenly the score was 10-6, Northwestern.
The eight goals came in a span of less than 11 minutes.
"We talked before the game about getting quality shots, and that is what we did," said Amonte Hiller. "It took awhile, but eventually we started getting good opportunities and we finished them."
Duke finally got back on the board when Rachel Sanford scored an unassisted goal with 5:23 to play in the first half, and things slowed down considerably the rest of the way before the break -- the last goal before then was unassisted and scored by, you guessed it, Kjellman.
Down 11-7 entering the second half, Duke played with urgency -- as a result, only eight seconds elapsed before Waagbo finished a long feed from Stefanie Sparks, and then 2:03 later Sparks scored herself to make the score 11-9.
Northwestern weathered the storm, however, as Munday finished a feed from Kjellman just 27 seconds after Sparks' goal, and then Kjellman scored another unassisted goal 16 seconds after that. Sarah Albrecht ended a five-minute drought by both teams with a free-position goal, answered quickly by Duke's Sanford.
The game became more deliberate after that, as Duke's attempts to get closer were foiled by the NU defense and Ashley Gersuk -- who had three of her four saves in the second half -- and Northwestern chose to be more judicious in its shooting the last 15 minutes of the game (with good reason, as Duke goalie Megan Huether came up with eight of her 11 saves after halftime).
What kind of day did Kjellman have? How about five goals, three assists, and six draw controls -- the kind of day All-Americans are supposed to have with so much at stake. Amonte Hiller, however, stressed the play of many over the play of one afterward.
"I thought everyone worked well together," she said. "Kristen did a great job of converting when she had her opportunities, but it was a team effort that won this game. Lindsey Munday had six points; Laura Glassanos had three points. Courtney Koester was her usual self controlling the draws. Kate Darmody didn't score but did a great job with the ball. Lindsay Finocchiaro was solid getting the ball up the field. So many people played well, you cannot just focus on one."
Northwestern now has a few days to catch its breath, but lurking on the horizon is a potential pothole -- No. 8 Penn State. NU's second American Lacrosse Conference opponent of the season has already knocked off two teams this year when those teams were ranked No. 1. Friday's faceoff at the Thomas Complex is 4 p.m.
#1 NORTHWESTERN 16, #2 DUKE 11
Score by Half
#2 Duke (10-3) 7 4 - 11
#1 Northwestern (11-0) 11 5 - 16
Goals
NU: Kjellman 5, Josephs 3, Munday 3, Albrecht 2, Glassanos 2, Flynn.
Duke: Sanford 3, Waagbo 2, Sparks 2, Chrest, Menser, Laschinger, Jester.
Assists
NU: Kjellman 3, Munday 3, Glassanos.
Duke: Chrest, Sparks.
Goalkeeper Saves
NU: Gersuk 4
Duke: Huether 11 (54:00), Bosch 0 (6:00)
Shots: NU 23, Duke 15
Free-Position Goals/Attempts: NU 2/6, Duke 3/5
Ground Balls: NU 23, Duke 21
Caused Turnovers: NU 6, Duke 6
Draw Controls: NU 17, Duke 12
Fouls: Duke 25, NU 13
