Being from the city of Seattle, I am not used to championships of any kind. So sitting in WNUR’s newsroom and listening to the Northwestern women’s lacrosse team’s third consecutive national title triumphant was quite the experience to say the least.

Lacrosse is not popular on the west coast, so it took me a few games to get a handle on the sport. But by the national title game came around I was fully prepared to listen to yet another Northwestern blowout. However, their opponent, the Virginia Cavaliers weren’t going along with the plan.

The ‘Cats defeated the Pennsylvania Quakers handedly in the national semifinal by a score of 12-2. Virginia, on the other hand, barely defeated the Duke Blue Devils, who the ‘Cats had dismantled 17-5 earlier in the season. Despite the fact the game looked like a mismatch on paper, the Cavaliers jumped out to a 2-0 lead when Northwestern was unable to hang on to the ball after winning the first two draws. Despite the early deficit, the ‘Cats led 11-5 at halftime and seemed well on their way to an easy victory.

But in the second half, the Cavaliers used a combination of a fearsome zone defense and an opportunistic offense to capture the momentum. The ‘Cats man-to-man defense had no answer for the Cavaliers as Virginia pulled within one with 10:21 to play. From then on it was a defensive struggle as the ‘Cats held onto the ball for as long as possible each possession. The Cavaliers had a few excellent scoring opportunities, but sophomore goalie Morgan Lathrop was up to the task as she repeatedly denied the Virginia attack.

The tension was palpable as the clock ticked away. Over the radio, the crowd in Philadelphia could easily be heard cheering on both teams with equal volume and passion. Then, with 2:29 left, freshman Katrina Dowd found the back of the net and the ‘Cats extended their lead to two.

It stayed that way. The ‘Cats defense held off the Cavaliers and Northwestern celebrated a third straight national championship. It was a great way for seniors such as Kristen Kjellman to go out. Three titles in four years? Not bad. They can leave confident that this new dynasty will continue considering sophomores Hilary Bowen and Hannah Nielsen played critical roles in the victory. On top of that, freshman Dowd had a hat trick.

Now the ‘Cats still have a ways to go to match Maryland’s seven consecutive national titles. But a three-peat is a great way to start. With the College World Series coming up, Northwestern has a chance at yet another spring national title. Let’s hope the CWS has at least half the excitement that this lacrosse national title game had.