'Catatonic: Northwestern Rips Irish in NCAAs
by Sean Collins Walsh | Special to Lacrosse Magazine Online | Game Blog
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Katrina Dowd shoots Saturday during a five-goal, three-assist performance in Northwestern's 19-7 NCAA tournament first-round win over Notre Dame. © TD Paulius/Midwest Lacrosse Photography |
EVANSTON, Ill. -- In search of their sixth
consecutive national title, the Northwestern women's lacrosse team
defeated Notre Dame 19-7 Saturday in the first round of the NCAA
playoffs.
With the victory, Northwestern tied the record for consecutive
postseason wins. Maryland, while capturing seven consecutive
championships in the late 1990s, set the mark, which currently
stands at 21..
After a slow start Saturday, the No. 2 Wildcats (18-1) broke a 3-3
tie with six straight goals and never let the Fighting Irish (11-7)
back in the game.
During the teams’ first matchup this season, which NU won
15-5, the Irish defense limited NU star Katrina Dowd to one goal
and one assist. Today, the senior recorded five goals and three
assists, including a behind-the-back finish that sparked the
six-goal run.
“She’s amazing,” Notre Dame couch Tracy Coyne
said. “Her stick skills and her foot quickness and her knack
for finding people is pretty amazing.”
Dowd, who won NCAA tournament MVP honors last year and was recently
named one of this year’s five Tewaaraton Trophy finalists,
became the fourth player in school history to score 200 career
goals Saturday. But she first made headlines with big performances
in playoff games as an underclassman.
NU coach Kelly Amonte Hiller is known for putting young players in
important roles during the postseason, and today was no exception.
Several young players saw significant time on the field, and
freshman Erin Fitzgerald notched three goals and one assist.
“As a freshman, you can just play free,” Amonte Hiller
said after the game. “You don’t have any expectations
from the years past.”
On one goal, Fitzgerald dodged several defenders before scoring and
large caused a reaction from the NU sideline.
“After that play, I looked back to the bench, I go,
‘Was that Katrina?’” Amonte Hiller said. “I
mean it looked exactly like her. It was a tremendously skilled
play.”
Several of this year’s first round matchups, including this
one, have been criticized by coaches and writers who argue that the
bracket was not organized fairly.
In women’s lacrosse, the NCAA seeds the top eight teams and
assigns first round opponents based on the geographic vicinity of
the remaining squads in the field to cut down on travel costs.
When asked about Irish’s luck, Coyne expressed
frustration.
“Honestly? Can I give a politically correct response?”
she said in a press conference. “To be quite frank, I think a
team of our caliber shouldn’t be here, because I think
Northwestern has demonstrated throughout their season, with the
level of success that they’ve had, they’ve earned the
right to play an easier opponent.”
Amonte Hiller, on the other hand, had no complaints.
“I think it is a tough first match, but I like that,”
she said. “I like having that tough first game, and it
prepares us for the second game.”
Northwestern will host the winner of Sunday’s Vanderbilt at
No. 7 Duke matchup next weekend in the NCAA quarterfinals. Using a
6-0 run midway through the opening half, Northwestern took control
and never looked back, roaring past Notre Dame 19-7 in an NCAA
first-round battle at Lakeside Field.
