Northwestern
#10 Florida
'Cats Return to Cary for NCAA Women's Lacrosse Semifinals Showdown Against Florida
5/22/2024 9:10:00 PM | Women's Lacrosse
CARY, N.C. - No. 1 Northwestern will face No. 10 Florida in the NCAA Women's Lacrosse Tournament semifinals on Friday at WakeMed Soccer Park at 2 p.m. CT on ESPNU. The Wildcats (17-2, 5-1 B1G) are making their 15th appearance at the championship site, having won eight national championships in their previous 14 appearances.
Florida (20-2, 6-0 AAC) enters the semifinal with impressive upsets over No. 5 Virginia and No. 4 Maryland. Led by goalie Elyse Finnelle, the Gators boast the highest save percentage in the tournament. Historically, Florida leads the all-time series against Northwestern 6-4, with their most recent meeting resulting in a 12-11 OT win for the Wildcats in the 2014 NCAA quarterfinals.
Northwestern's most recent national championship came last season, where they defeated Denver in the semifinals and Boston College in the finals. The Wildcats are looking to become the first team to win back-to-back national titles since Maryland in 2014-15. Head Coach Kelly Amonte Hiller is tied with Cindy Timchal for the most national championships (8) by a head coach in Division I history. Amonte Hiller, who was coached by Cindy Timchal at Maryland, also holds the highest winning percentage (.836) and the most tournament wins (56) by a head coach in NCAA Tournament history.
This season, graduate student Izzy Scane was named the Big Ten Conference's Attacker of the Year for the third time in her career, scoring a league-leading 75 goals so far. If she reaches 85, she will be the first player to lead the nation in goals scored in consecutive seasons since Jen Adams of Maryland did so three straight years (1999-2001). Graduate student Erin Coykendall has tallied 195 career assists, which ranks sixth in Division I history and second in Northwestern history, and needs five more assists to move into fifth all-time. Sophomore Madison Taylor has set a program record with 128 goals in her first two seasons.
Northwestern leads the tournament field in several statistics, including scoring margin, scoring defense, points per game, assists per game, and shot percentage.
With a win, Northwestern will advance to the NCAA Championship Game on Sunday, May, 26 at 11 a.m. CT against the winner of Boston College and Syracuse.
