Pre-Game:

Alright, it’s a rainy and blustery day here at Lakeside field, but perhaps the unpredictable and wild wind is setting the tone for the first round of the 2008 NCAA Lacrosse Championship between the number one seeded Wildcats and ninth seeded Fighting Irish.

Come out if you can, but make sure to wear plenty of layers!

Northwestern comes into the first round of the 2008 NCAA tournament for the fifth straight time, seeking their fourth straight title.

NU, who under coach Kelly Amonte Hiller is 13-1 in previous tournament play, the best all time winning percentage in NCAA championship history, will face off against a slightly less seasoned Fighting Irish team.

Making its first appearance in the NCAA tournament since 2006, the Fighting Irish are an at large team that made the tournament despite their 15-14 loss to the Georgetown Hoyas in the Big East semifinals.

The Wildcats will look to Tewaaraton Trophy finalist Hannah Nielsen, who netted the top spot on the all time assist leader board at Northwestern last weekend in the ALC championship and Tewaaraton Trophy nominnee Hilary Bowen to provide heavy pressure on attack.

On defense the Cats senior defender and Tewaaraton Trophy finalist, Christy Finch will seek to provide hard hitting defense while Morgan Lanthrop will look to continue her dominance between the pipes. Morgan, with a 6.6l goals against average currently tops the leader board among goalies in the American Conference.

It was not much contest the last time these two teams met as NU handily defeated the Irish 16-2.

Stay here as the Wildcats begin their fourth run to the NCAA championship!
1st Half:

28:17

The Fighting Irish get on the board first off a dangerous foul by senior defender Christy Finch. Heather Ferguson came up with the goal. It’s 1 o’clock and the lights are already turned on here at the Lakeside field. Fittingly, Hilary Bowen, the leading goal scorer in the American Conference, lights up the board first for the Wildcats.

1-1

19:29

Heather Ferguson nets her second goal with a bounce shot over the shoulder of goalie Morgan Lathrop. Shanon Burke had the assist on this quick transition goal.

2-1 ND

10:35

Fighting Irish attacker Gina Scioscia has just given Notre Dame its third goal to put her team up by two with 10:35 left in the first half. Scioscia took the ball in almost uncontested from outside the crease and right in front of the goal where she found the top of the net. The Cats are going to have to step up the defensive pressure in these last ten minutes.

3-1 ND

8:56

Northwestern finally answers with a great goal less than two minutes later. The goal came off an assist from Casey Donohoe to Hannah Nielsen and her goal has ignited the devoted crowd here with cries of “Let’s go Cats.”

3-2 NU

8:27

Notre Dame’s lead is back up to two as Jane Stoeckert gets the ball in the back in the net again almost uncontested off a pass from another dominant attacker for the Irish in this half Heather Ferguson. The Fighting Irish have again extended their lead to two with only eight minutes left in the half.

4-2 ND

3:42

A pair of back-to-back goals by the Wildcats has tied the game up for NU with only three minutes left in the half and gotten them out of a dry spot in this half. The first goal came off a beautiful shot by Hilary Bowen and the second goal came shortly later from freshman Brooke Matthews stick. Matthews’ quick speed and stick worked helped the Cats score this goal.

4-4 Tie

3:19

The Cat’s give up another goal only thirty seconds later. Fighting Irish midfielder, Alicia Billings took advantage of another lapse in the Wildcats usually stingy defense.

5-4 ND

1st Half Recap:

The Cats did not show their best lacrosse during the first half just barely tying up the game with nine seconds left off a beautiful acrobatic goal by Hilary Bowen. It seems that every time the Cats score on the Fighting Irish they are not intimidated and answer right back with a goal of their own. Two of Notre Dame’s five goals came within thirty seconds of the Cats’ own goals. Northwestern will have to step up their defense, which looks very lax today. The offense has been finding the back of the net, but not at quite the rate that they usually do. The wind is unrelenting and continuing to blow, so we’ll see if things can shift for the Cats in this very important 2nd half.

29:08

The Cats start off very strong with a goal only 52 seconds into the beginning of the 2nd half. Katrina Dowd scored this goal to put Northwestern ahead for the first time this game after faking out two defenders on her way to the net.

6-5 NU

26:36

And just like that the Cats have taken their own two goal lead in the game off a goal from Hillary Bowen. Meredith Frank set up the play and grabs the assist as Bowen was able to juke away from Fighting Irish defender Goodman before putting the ball in the back of the net.

7-5 NU

23:41

Hilary Bowen has put her team in control of this game with her fourth goal of the day and the Cats are finally starting to find their rhythm here in the second half. This game is proving to be a game of two different halfs as the Cats are looking faster, stronger, and stingy to take a three goal lead.

8-5 NU

Bowen sprints from outside the crease and makes a tremendous move on her defender and has now scored enough goals to put on one hand. Bowen’s fifth goal made it inside the net on a bounce shot which scooted past Fighting Irish goalie Erin Goodman, who has been having a very strong showing out here today. In less than ten minutes the Cats have now scored four goals.

9-5 NU

19:51

Again the Irish answer right back on a goal from attacker Gina Scioscia–her second goal of the day. With that goal Notre Dame has cut the lead to within three.

9-6 ND

12:04

It was a three on one to goal off a dropped pass from a Notre Dame defender that netted this goal for the Wildcats. Hannah Nielsen again came away hot handed with her fourth consecutive goal in the 2nd half to give her two hat tricks on the day. The game seems to be slowly down a little as the Cats try and bide their time here, but The Wildcats really took advantage of the opportunity presented to them by the missed ball in the backfield by the Notre Dame defense.

13-6 NU

10:03

Gina Scioscia again steps up for her team and ticks off another goal for her team, making that three for Scioscia on the day. The Cats defense is giving out a lot more hard knocks in this half, but a wild ground ball gave Scioscia the opportunity for that goal.

13-7 ND

5:36

The Fighting Irish looks like they have stopped fighting here as Casey Donohoe gives Northwestern their largest lead of the game at seven goals. Northwestern has now taken an unprecedented 32 shots on Notre Dame goalie Erin Goodman.

14-7 NU

3:06

Katrina Dowd takes advantage of a wide open net to put Northwestern ahead by eight with three minutes left to go in the first round of this 2008 NCAA championship. Erin Goodman, perhaps frustrated at the breakdown of her defense was out defending nowhere near being in between the pipes when Dowd picked up a turnover by the defense and had an easy shot at the net. The control of this game has gone to the Wildcats.

Final Score: 15-7 This puts the Cats into the next round of the 2008 NCAA championship tournament and helps them continue their quest for their fourth straight championship title.

Postgame.

It was the tale of two halves out here on this blustery day for the Wildcats who came out looking very relaxed in the first half. Notre Dame got on the board first and was able to maintain a lead for the whole half. The Fighting Irish were really pushing hard and answered every one of the Wildcat goals with one of their own to keep up a steady two goal lead. The Cats finally showed sign of control on a pair of back-to-back goals, concluding with an acrobatic diving goal by Hilary Bowen to finally tie the game going into halftime.

The 2nd half proved very different for the Cats, who began to connect with the back of the net less than a minute into the half. Led by Hannah Nielsen, who scored four consecutive goals in the 2nd half to give her six on the day, the Cats absolutely steamrolled over the Fighting Irish much like in their last meeting.

The Wildcats will now begin to prepare for next Sunday when they will face the Princeton Tigers, who defeated Vanderbilt 14-10 today, for the NCAA 2008 Championship Quarterfinals.