Dynasty Undone or Dynasty Reborn? Wildcats, Terps Ready to Settle Score in NCAA Championship Game
by Andy Krauss | Special to Lacrosse Magazine Online | NCAA Semifinals Blog
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Northwestern draw master Danielle Spencer might find her match Sunday in Maryland's Karri Ellen Johnson in the NCAA championship game. © John Strohsacker/LaxPhotos.com |
TOWSON, Md. -- Last season, many women's lacrosse fans were hoping for a dream matchup of undefeated Northwestern and undefeated Maryland for the national championship.
That dream was thwarted by a scrappy North Carolina team that upset Maryland in the semifinal. Northwestern went on to easily beat UNC, 21-7, to win its fifth straight title.
This season, those fans will get what they want.
Although both teams have a loss to their credit (to UNC in each case), Northwestern and Maryland have reached the mountaintop of women's collegiate lacrosse and play for the title on Sunday at 5:30 p.m.
For Northwestern, it will be for the sixth straight season. For
the Terps, it will be their first appearance in the title tilt
since 2001. But the story just doesnt end there.
Although their teams are clearly the most talented, athletic and
fundamentally sound of any in college lacrosse, it is hard to
preview the game and not tell the tale of two coaches: two coaches
who won a total of six titles while playing at Maryland, two of
which came as teammates.
Kelly Amonte Hiller has had unbelievable run in Evanston in which
she has amassed 153 wins and five national titles in her first nine
seasons. Before she entered the coaching ranks, Amonte Hiller was a
four-time All-American in College Park. In her final two seasons of
1995 and 1996, she was named the National Player of the Year and
led the Terps to the first two titles of what became a seven-year
championship run.
It was her junior season that Amonte Hiller came into contact with
a shy freshman, who wound up with some a couple of All-America
honors herself. That freshman was the former Cathy Nelson,
who in four years has taken her alma mater back to the championship
game as its head coach.
"Towards the beginning of her freshman year, Cathy was a very
timid and shy player," said Amonte Hiller. "By the time we got to
the final four that season, she was unstoppable. That speaks for
her personality and her stepping under pressure."
Fifteen years later, Reese may be facing the greatest pressure as
she hopes to coach the Terps to their eighth national title.
It would be the school's first without former head coach Cindy
Timchal, who now heads up the program at Navy.
Timchal coached at Maryland from 1991 to 2006, coaching both Amonte Hiller and Reese.
Ironically, her assistant coach during that championship run was
Gary Gait, who now is head coach at Syracuse. He was defeated by
Reese's team in Friday's semifinal.
After falling short in last year's semifinal, Reese is excited to
be coaching in a championship game with a team that she can call
her own.
"This senior class was my first class when I took the job at
Maryland, so there's nothing I want more for them than to be able
to have this opportunity on Sunday," said Reese. "They've earned
it, now we're here and we're going to go for it."
Of course, neither coach would be doing her thing on Sunday if it
weren't for her talented players. Without question, the
highlighted matchup will be Northwestern's Danielle Spencer against
Maryland's Karri Ellen Johnson.
Spencer is a senior attacker from Rochester, N.Y., who is expected
to earn her second All-American honor this season. She scores with
proficiency, notching 57 goals and 74 assists.
Where she really excels, however, is draw controls. Her eight
draws against UNC made her the fifth player in Division I history
to eclipse the century mark in that statistic for a single
season.
Johnson is a sophomore attacker from Annapolis, who also lights up
the scoreboard (66 goals, 85 points) this year and is a master of
the draw (69 this year).
Spencer is excited about the matchup.
"I've seen Karri Ellen take the draw many times," said Spencer.
"She is a very talented player. Hopefully, it will be a good
matchup and I can give her a bit of a challenge."
These teams have only met twice since 1991. Northwestern won in
College Park, 13-8, in 2006 and in Evanston, 12-7, in 2007.
"It's very exciting [to play Maryland] because we haven't played
them, so it's very exciting," Spencer said. "Personally, I don't
know much about their team, so it will be great to learn about them
and it's another test for our team."
You could sense a little more hunger from a Maryland team that has
yet to taste a national title.
"That's our goal all year," said Maryland mifielder Caitlyn
McFadden. "All the accolades are awesome, but this what I really
want to be fighting for, so I'm so excited to get out there and
play on Sunday."
When the eyes of the women's lacrosse world refocus on Towson on
Sunday, we'll either see a dynasty continue or a dynasty reborn.
We'll see a Maryland alumnus raise the trophy one more time.
And unless there is a total surprise, we'll see a whale of a lacrosse game.
