Sept. 26, 2009

Box Score

EAST LANSING, Mich. -- Through 70 minutes of regulation and into overtime, the outcome of Saturday's contest between No. 18 Northwestern (9-3) and Maine was still in question with the teams locked in a 2-2 tie. But sophomore Chelsea Armstrong changed all that with her third goal of the game off a feed by Elizabeth Dobbs, giving NU a 3-2 win while moving into fifth on the school's all-time list for goals in a single season with 19.

The victory was Northwestern's fourth overtime win of the year. It came despite being down a player due to a yellow card issued in overtime, leaving Northwestern playing with just five field players to Maine's six.

With her three-goal performance, Armstrong also vaulted into a tie for fifth all-time at Northwestern with 45 points on the season. Since 1990, only Candice Cooper has scored more points in a single year than Armstrong (46, 2004). She took nine shots against the Black Bears to extend her Big Ten-leading total on the year to 64.

Maine--which came into the game with a 7-1 record and receiving 29 votes in the Kookaburra/NFHCA Coaches Poll--found itself in an early deficit 10 minutes into the contest when Armstrong collected a loose ball in front of the cage and slotted it past U of M goalkeeper Brittany Fleck for the first goal of the afternoon. Neither squad managed a goal the rest of the half despite combining for 10 shots in the period.

Four minutes out of the halftime gate, Armstrong struck again when she took a pass inside the arc from senior Stacy Uchida and pushed it into the lower righthand corner of the cage. The assist was the seventh helper of the season for Uchida, tying her with Armstrong for the team lead.

The Black Bears responded in the 44th minute with a penalty corner goal by Jocelyn Mitchell, her 12th of the season. Maine kept the pressure on after that, with Brittney Cummings putting in a rebound off the pads of NU goalkeeper Katie Lynch to draw the Black Bears even at two.

Lynch stopped six shots in picking up the victory in the cage for the Wildcats.

Armstrong broke the tie with just a shade over five minutes remaining, tallying her team-best third game-winning goal of 2009.

Northwestern returns to the Big Ten slate when it hosts Michigan at Lakeside Field Friday at 3 p.m.