May 24, 2008

by Nelson Coffin, Special to Lacrosse Magazine Online

LMO SIDEBAR: Northwestern Has Answer for Rowan

TOWSON, Md. - In a long and illustrious career, Syracuse's Gary Gait has been part and parcel of more than a few dominating victories as a coach and a player.

In the Orange's first-ever NCAA semifinal appearance, he found out how the other half lives.

Despite Gait's steadying influence from the sideline in his inaugural season at the helm of his alma mater's women's program, he could only watch Northwestern systematically destroy the Orange in the second half of a thorough 16-8 whipping in the first game of a doubleheader at Towson University.

The Wildcats have now won 15 consecutive playoff games and are 16-1 in the postseason since 2004.

Leading by a mere 7-6 at the intermission, coach Kelly Amonte Hilller's three-time defending champions unleashed their inner Wildcats by scoring the first nine goals of the half - on just a dozen shots - before the Orange could even shoot once.

"We felt pretty good in the first half," said Gait, whose 2005 Major League Lacrosse champion Baltimore Bayhawks played their home games on the same Johnny Unitas Stadium field in which his Syracuse squad was throttled. "But it just seemed like we didn't have the ball much in the second half. They got three or four draws in a row. They took advantage of some long possessions. We were playing a lot of defense, and that wears you out."

The Orange (18-3) gave as good as it got in the opening period, controlling the ball well enough on several solid 7-on-7 possessions to take a 5-4 advantage with 7:43 to go in the half.

Junior attacker/midfielder Hilary Bowen, who scored six goals for the Wildcats, stole the ball to set up a pretty Casey Donohoe (3 goals, 1 assist) feed to Katrina Dowd for the equalizer a few monents later. Then sophomore midfielder Danielle Spencer gave Northwestern the lead for good on a rocket at the 3:49 mark.

After Donohoe rippled the net again, junior attacker Megan Mosenson (3 goals) scored to keep Syracuse close, at 7-6.

That's when Amonte Hiller told her charges to be "fearless" in the second half.

Apparently, the Wildcats took the message to heart.

"I knew we had more aggression in us," the former Maryland great said. "It wasn't just our aggression on the ball, it was our aggression off ball, too."

That's a good way to describe what fueled the mauling after Amonte Hiller's pep talk.

Bowen started the 9-0 run and Donohoe finished it, with junior midfielder/attacker Meredith Frank (3 goals) and Spencer chipping in goals and junior midfielder Hannah Nielsen (4 assists) adding an assist to the mix.

"We had to go out and make something happen," Bowen said. "We did whatever we had to do to get goals."

Meanwhile, at the other of the field, on the few occasions the Orange had the ball, they didn't do much with it against defenders Christy Finch, Sara Harrington, Maggie Bremer and anybody else Amonte Hiller beckoned from a ridiculously deep bench.

Bremer was good in her own right, throwing a blanket over the 'Cuse's leading scorer, Katie Rowan, who only managed a pair of shots and was held without a point. Senior attacker Kristin Brady (2 goals) was the only other Syracuse player to register more than a goal, while sophomore midfilelder Christina Dove (1 goal, 3 assist) also inflicted some damage for the Orange.

Wildcat junior goalie Moran Lathrop faced just 10 shots on goal while her Syracuse counterpart was fired on 22 times, showing just how effective Northwestern's defense was while its offense was overwhelming.

"When it comes down to it, it's just about giving your all," Bremer, a sophomore from Upper Arlington, Ohio, said.

No doubt, the Wildcats intend to unleash more aggression against Penn when the teams meet for the title Sunday evening at the same site.