Northwestern University Athletics
How Northwestern Rediscovered Itself in 70 Days of Immortality
6/12/2026 1:32:00 PM | Women's Lacrosse
EVANSTON, Ill. — By the time Madison Taylor hoisted the NCAA Championship trophy at Northwestern Medicine Field at Martin Stadium on May 24, Northwestern had actualized a dream well over a year in the making.
"This moment was really a culmination of all the moments that we had, all the championships, all the non-championships, all the lessons and all the people that came out when we didn't have an indoor facility that sat their butts right on that cold bench," Combe Family Head Lacrosse Coach Kelly Amonte Hiller said.
The Wildcats knocked off UNC 14-11 to win the program's ninth national title, becoming the first school in 40 years to capture the championship on its home field. But the whirlwind path to the summit contained no shortage of drama.
"I've never been a part of a team with so many breaks that went the right way," assistant coach Scott Hiller said. "It was storybook stuff. I've been involved in a lot of sporting events. That environment, for Northwestern to host and to play the championship in front of that crowd, there was nothing like it."
The Northwestern coaching staff had constructed its 2026 roster with this goal in mind. The Wildcats brought in four impact transfers — each with one season of eligibility remaining — to pair alongside their eventual Tewaaraton Award winner.
They'd strengthened each facet of the team. Maddie Epke bolstered what Amonte Hiller considers her deepest-ever draw team. Jenika Cuocco, the most coveted netminder in the portal, stepped into a defensive unit that grew even stronger with a transition threat like Annabel Child. Epke and Olivia Adamson helped round out an offense packed with scoring threats.
But pressure accompanied such lofty expectations and the prospect of hosting Championship Weekend.
"When we got the bid, I was like, 'This could be incredible,'" Amonte Hiller said. "Then it sets in. You have to make it. I didn't really unpack that for my team, myself and my staff. That was an error on my part. We all felt pressure. It was underlying, unsaid, but there was pressure there. And you saw what happened at the beginning of the season."
Eight games into the season, Northwestern seemed to nosedive at the most inopportune time. Following back-to-back losses to Syracuse and Ohio State in a four-day span, the 'Cats stared down a murderers' row of ranked opponents with little reprieve. Six of their last seven regular-season matchups featured top-25 squads.
"We could have all started to silo and go our separate ways," Jaylen Rosga said. "But we really banded together, buckled down and said, 'No. This is what we want our season to look like. We're not going to let this happen.'"
A group that seemingly struck rock bottom emerged to become unbeatable. The Wildcats won 14 consecutive games, including 10 straight ranked victories, en route to the title.
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Seventy days before Northwestern etched its name in immortality, the Wildcats fell 16-15 to unranked Ohio State in their Big Ten opener on March 15. Just minutes prior to NU's Senior Day festivities, the Buckeyes became the third visiting squad to celebrate on the 'Cats' home turf in 2026.
"When I was walking up for Senior Day, I was bawling my eyes out," Taylor said. "It was just hard because I've never experienced that before. I didn't know if we were going to get ourselves out of that hole or not. I knew how special this group was, and I didn't understand why this was happening."
Staring down a 5-3 record, Amonte Hiller experienced doubt she hadn't felt in nearly a decade. As she wondered whether Northwestern would even secure a postseason bid, Amonte Hiller addressed both the team and parents postgame.
A reset was in order, and she and her husband grappled with their newfound reality.
"Watching Ohio State celebrate on our home field on Senior Day was one of the lowlights of our careers," Hiller said. "At that moment, us and the team realized we have no choice here but to either completely buy in and completely turn this thing around and start rolling in the same direction, or this is going to get real ugly."
With six days between games and classes out for spring break, the Wildcats held a series of team debriefs, position group meetings and individual conversations.
Amonte Hiller called upon several alums to address the group. These included director of operations Kiera Shanley and assistant coach Nicole Beardsley Montag.
"[The alumni] reminded us that the dynasty we are a part of now wasn't always like this," Cuocco said. "The things we are so lucky to get — gear, sticks, support we have on campus and this beautiful facility we get to call our home field — weren't always the case. We had lost sight of that and just got into the expectation of it."
The coaching staff watched as Northwestern's veteran leadership rose to meet the challenge. Amonte Hiller pointed to Rosga as a steadying presence who emerged as a crucial voice post-Ohio State.
The 'Cats soon entered a 2025 national championship rematch with the Tar Heels on March 25.
"This was a good test," Amonte Hiller said. "We still had nothing to lose. North Carolina is the No. 1 team, everyone says they're the best, so this was a great way to test ourselves and see what we can do. During that game, I remember [thinking], 'This is good. We're competing really hard. Even if we win or lose this game, this is working.'"
What followed was a 17-16 overtime victory that Amonte Hiller considers the season's true "turning point."
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While training in the summer, Taylor suffered a stress fracture in her hip. The injury caused her to miss all of fall ball, and the senior wasn't a full participant in practices until January.
"It gave me a whole different perspective coming into the fall because I was always just used to playing and making friends and the connections through playing lacrosse," Taylor said. "But I was fully taken out of the practice setting all fall, and I just had to find different ways to connect with people and still be happy."
Taylor's injury placed Aditi Foster into the spotlight. The sophomore was the team's top attacker in fall scrimmages, with the offense running through her stick.
Foster, who often shadowed her fellow lefty attacker from the moment she stepped on campus as a first-year, sought Taylor's guidance from the sidelines as she dealt with her elevated role.
"It was hard not having Maddy there because we had such a new group," Foster said. "She's such a big role model for myself and everyone around us. She's like a second coach on the field. At the same time, it was really nice to play with everyone and work into my spot this year because I didn't know exactly what [my role] was going to be."
Even with key players like Taylor and Epke out of the lineup for much of the fall, Amonte Hiller said her group didn't encounter much adversity during that slate.
But as Taylor returned, she and Foster needed to learn how to coexist on the attack's right side. The duo had less than a month of winter practices together before the season arrived. For Hiller, who designs the team's offense, the process required patience.
"We brought those guys in and said, 'Hey look, you guys are going to lead this thing from that side of the field, and we need to get you on the same page,'" he said. "That really started to emerge in the Carolina game. That process was built throughout the season. One of the greatest things at the end of the year was how hard those two were hugging after we won."
By May, Taylor and Foster had clicked into high gear. Foster buried the eventual game-winner in the national title game, while Taylor took what the defense gave her and dished out six assists. After the final buzzer sounded, the two could hardly rein in a year's worth of emotional buildup, crying in one another's arms.
"I felt like I was in my backyard," Foster said. "Like I was in fifth grade when I picked up a stick and would go out with my friends and have fun. At the end of the day, it's college lacrosse. It only lasts for four years. You come here to have fun, enjoy your time and get better."
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Northwestern broke down every defensive huddle with "Love on three" this season.
The defense's development from the early stages of fall to the final weekend of play in May proved a true labor of love. The Wildcats' defensive scheme requires consistent shifts from man-to-man defense into zone looks depending on game flow.
"Flexibility is key," Rosga said. "That was one of our themes this year — stay ready and be flexible. Especially in our defense, you have to be ready for anything. We have such amazing athletes, everyone is so incredibly coachable. Everything starts with a great man-to-man, and then we were able to apply some of those principles to our zone and see it start to flourish."
After graduating several All-Americans on the defensive end last summer, Northwestern needed to incorporate a plethora of new faces into its defense this year.
The group of newcomers began with Cuocco in the cage, who set a program-record 191 saves in 2026.
First-year defenders Mckenzie Brown and Reese Hansen were each thrown into the fire, while midfielder Kate Ratanaproeksa saw some of the first defensive reps of her lacrosse career.
"I have chills thinking about our unit because it was something so special to be a part of," Cuocco said. "We prided ourselves all season on just being the rock for this team. That's something Kelly really established for us. Offense wins games, but defense wins championships. We wanted to peak at that right moment."
Entering Championship Sunday, Northwestern devised a defensive game plan to stifle UNC. The 'Cats held the Tar Heels to a season-low 11 goals and pitched a fourth-quarter shutout. Matched up with Tewaaraton Award finalist Chloe Humphrey for much of the game, Mary Carroll limited the nation's scoring leader to a career-low 2-of-11 shooting day.
For Amonte Hiller, the defense's resilience and toughness were tone-setters for the collective group.
"This group on defense was really selfless and tough," Amonte Hiller said. "They wanted to play for the other girls. They wanted to get the offense the ball. They wanted to make the team shine as a whole. And when we had breakdowns on the defensive end, all of a sudden there's Jenika."
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As Amonte Hiller and her husband have learned through nine national championship wins, a team needs contributions beyond its typical superstars to prevail. After veteran attacker Lucy Munro went down with an injury in the title game, first-year Gabriella McCollester seized her moment on the game's grandest stage.
The coaching staff saw flashes of magic out of McCollester throughout the spring. The first-year had featured on specialist units and saw action throughout the postseason.
"She had some points where she was very up and down," Amonte Hiller said. "One day she would be crazy good. The next day, she would be not so good. We were just really trying to mentor her. As much as we were on the right track, she was experiencing adversity. She just never stopped working, never stopped believing."
In April 2025, McCollester underwent surgery on a torn ACL. She missed her senior season at Boulder High School and wasn't cleared for Northwestern's fall scrimmages.
But McCollester kept her head down and worked. Once cleared for full contact, she took extra reps and attended early morning film sessions with Beardsley-Montag.
"I just saw every practice as a new opportunity to get better," McCollester said. "I tried to learn as much as possible every single day and prepare every day like I'm going to play the whole game."
About a month before the national championship game, McCollester sought guidance from Foster. She was dealing with fluctuating confidence through sporadic playing time.
Foster, who had a similar experience as a first-year before delivering a breakout game in the 2025 Big Ten Championship, told McCollester it was just a matter of time before her moment arrived. The message echoed the coaching staff's urges for McCollester to "stay ready" and came to fruition on Championship Sunday.
McCollester delivered four second-half goals on four shots to help lift the Wildcats to victory.
"It just goes to show how much belief the coaching staff has in every single person," Foster said. "It doesn't matter who it is on the field. They're always going to believe in you and talk you up. I know pretty much every person on the offensive side went up to her and was like, 'You totally got this.' Just kind of building her up. That's such a special thing about this team."
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Once Amonte Hiller returned home on Championship Sunday, she watched a recording of the ESPN broadcast, reliving a moment she never wanted to end.
"I just will never forget every single moment of that game," Amonte Hiller said. "It exceeded any expectation that I had. This is a moment I've been dreaming about and just feel so blessed for all the people that contributed to this moment. It really was a culmination of so many things and so many experiences."
In her 25th season at the helm of a program she revived in the early 2000s, Amonte Hiller rewrote history on her home field. In doing so, she surpassed her mentor — Cindy Timchal — to become the winningest coach in men's or women's Division I Lacrosse Championship history.
Rosga, whose lacrosse journey traces its roots back to Minnesota, said the importance of playing in a Championship Weekend outside of the Eastern Time Zone is boundless.
"It's really hard to explain in words how remarkable this event was," Rosga said. "To see the little girls in the stands that are from the Midwest and from nontraditional areas be able to look up to these amazing women on all four teams playing and being so successful in everything they do was just so rewarding to know that our sport is continuing to grow."
"What Kelly and Scotty have done for this program is so amazing, and I can't thank them enough for the opportunity to play at Northwestern and put on this jersey. But to be able to play at home for a Final Four in the Midwest, where I'm from, makes me speechless."
For both players and coaches alike, the lessons learned from Northwestern's 2026 season will live long in their memories.
When times got tough, the 'Cats leaned on one another, rediscovered their love for the game and committed to finding a way regardless of the circumstances.
"We didn't do anything differently in X's and O's, tactically or skill-wise," Hiller said. "It was installing belief and constantly hammering home the mindset, the culture, the love and creating the environment where that belief and love really carried the day."
As the championship celebrations subsided, the Northwestern coaching staff returned to work, assembling a roster to compete for a 10th national championship.
"No road is ever straight; it's always winding, and you have to look at everything as an opportunity to grow," Amonte Hiller said. "Whether it's difficult or really rewarding, just staying humble through everything and remembering what your charge is — mentoring young student-athletes and getting them to believe in themselves is always the most important thing."
