Northwestern Puts First Loss in Perspective
by Steven Russolillo | Special to Lacrosse Magazine Online
The streak may be over, but the mindset remains the same.
Northwestern’s 41-game winning streak came to a screeching
halt last Saturday when North Carolina upset the Wildcats 18-16 in
a rematch of last season’s national championship game. The
streak, which dated back to 2008, was also Northwestern’s
(12-1, 3-0 ALC) first home loss in 58 games since 2004.
The loss dropped the Wildcats to No. 2 in the rankings, as
they’re now looking up to North Carolina. But don’t
slap the underdog label on Northwestern just yet.
“I don’t think just one loss changes much,” said
ninth-year head coach Kelly Amonte Hiller. “We’ve won
five consecutive championships -- I think our role as being the
hunted is pretty secure. Every team that plays us wants to
knock us down. Our team is definitely learning that now.”
Coming off its first loss in years, defense was
Northwestern’s top priority in practice this week, she said.
The 18 goals allowed last Saturday were the most the Wildcats have
given up since transitioning to varsity status in 2002.
Sloppy defensive won’t bode well Saturday when Northwestern
battles for the American Lacrosse Crown regular season crowd
against No. 8 Vanderbilt, a squad that has rattled off 10 straight
victories after losing three of four to start the season.
Taming the Commodores’ attack won’t be easy, as they
average nearly 15 goals a game and sport four players who have
registered at least 40 points this season.
“We’ve been working every minute since the
loss,” Amonte Hiller said. “Sometimes you say things as
a coach and it doesn’t penetrate. Hopefully, it seems like
the girls were really listening this week and ready to work.
That’s what it takes to be on top, and we didn’t have
that going into North Carolina.”
The Wildcats will lean on seniors Katrina Dowd and Danielle
Spencer to help them return to the win column. The trusty veterans,
who have accumulated 200 points each throughout their Northwestern
careers, are among the Wildcats’ scoring leaders again this
season.
Dowd had a monster offensive game against North Carolina, tying a
career high with seven goals. But Spencer was held scoreless,
proving Northwestern may need to spread the ball around more on
offense to get back to its winning ways.
“We have a different team than last year,” Amonte
Hiller said. “We lost 10 seniors from last season –
these kids are starting to learn what it takes that next
step.”
Northwestern’s road to the NCAA tournament doesn’t get
any easier after Saturday’s game against Vanderbilt. The
Wildcats will host No. 5 Virginia on April 30 before closing the
regular season on May 2 against conference foe Florida.
Some suggest losing to North Carolina might not have been such a
bad thing for the Wildcats. Winning can be taken for granted,
especially on a relatively young team. It’s better for
the loss to come now, they say, to make the Wildcats realize the
rigor needed to earn that sixth championship.
But don’t expect Amonte Hiller to buy into that theory
anytime soon.
“I don’t subscribe to losing being a good
thing,” Amonte Hiller said. “I think you should be able
to learn without losing. We can only tell if we learn from it in
terms of how we move forward.
“We’re only as good as our last game. We have a little
bit more to prove on Saturday.”
ALC News & Notes
Vanderbilt extended its school-record winning
streak to 10 games with a victory over Florida
12-7 last Sunday. Senior Carter Foote and
sophomore Ally Carey each tallied four goals for
the Commodores. “Our whole team is riding a wave based on
hard work and preparation,” Vanderbilt head coach Cathy
Swezey said after the game. The Gators (9-6, 1-3) have lost two in
a row and will close their season on May 2 against Northwestern.
Johns Hopkins (8-6, 1-2) travels to Penn
State (8-5, 1-3) for a showdown in the Happy Valley on
Saturday. Ohio State (8-6, 1-3) hosts Detroit
Mercy on Sunday before closing the regular season at Johns Hopkins
on May 2.
