Northwestern Pulls Away from Navy Late
from press release
ANNAPOLIS, Md. -- Behind six goals and three
assists from All-American Shannon Smith, second-ranked Northwestern
(4-0) used an 8-0 second half run to defeat Navy (5-1), 18-8, in
women's lacrosse on Thursday evening at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial
Stadium.
"We lost to an outstanding program tonight in Northwestern," head
coach Cindy Timchal said. "I give all the credit to Kelly [Amonte
Hiller] and the Northwestern girls who are tough, tough, tough. I
was proud of the effort of our team tonight and we did some things
well. But we aren't looking for moral victories and we are going to
move on from this defeat and look forward to our next game on
Saturday."
Northwestern is the highest-ranked team that Navy has played in its
four years at the Division I level. The Wildcats won five straight
national championships from 2005-09 and was the national runner-up
last season.
"Playing top-level teams like this will help us build our
confidence and it will help the program moving forward," sophomore
Jasmine DePompeo (Sayville, N.Y.) said. "It's a huge opportunity to
see what we need to work on and know how we can prepare for games
like this in the future."
Back-to-back goals from DePompeo early in the second half allowed
Navy to pull within 10-6 with 24:49 to go in the game, but Smith
then scored back-to-back goals of her own to begin the Wildcats'
8-0 spurt. Navy was held scoreless for 22 minutes of action during
Northwestern's run and it wasn't until senior Katrina Nietsch (New
Canaan, Conn.) converted on a free-position attempt at 2:33 when
the Mids scored again.
A late game goal from freshman Aimee Gennaro (Havertown, Pa.)
capped off the game's scoring and resulted in the 18-8 final
score.
The Wildcats built up an early 2-0 lead in the first half before
Gennaro scored on a free position shot. The Wildcats then scored
three straight to push the lead to 5-1 before Caitlin Mandrin Hill
(Annapolis, Md.) scored off a feed from freshman Molly Hamilton
(New Albany, Ohio).
Smith's first goal then came with 12:49 remaining in the first
half, before sophomore Kathy Young (Berwyn, Pa.) connected on a
free position shot to cut the gap to 6-3.
Smith then scored again to kick off a 3-0 Northwestern run that
could have ended the first half, save for Hamilton goal with 3.9
seconds remaining in the frame, off a timely pass from Mandrin
Hill.
Northwestern dominated Navy in the game in draw controls, holding a
21-7 advantage and when the Mids did win possession, they were
hampered by 18 turnovers. Northwestern had the ball in its
offensive territory for the majority of the game and boasted a
44-17 advantage in shots.
DePompeo lead Navy with two goals and an assist and Mandrin Hill
added one goal and two assists.
Junior goalie Elaina Ponchione made a number of big saves early to
keep Navy in the game and has 10 total saves in the game.
Northwestern is coached by Kelly Amonte Hiller. She won two
national championships from 1995-96 while playing for Timchal at
Maryland.
Navy will next play its first road game of the season on Saturday
at noon at Robert Morris (1-0).
