Sept. 27, 2011

Final Stats

Site: Evanston, Ill. (Lakeside Field)
Score: Northwestern 6, Saint Louis 1
Records: NU (9-3, 0-1 Big Ten), SLU (1-8, 0-0 A10)
Next NU Event: Thursday, Sept. 29 at Michigan State • East Lansing, Mich. • 1 p.m.

EVANSTON, Ill. -- It took Northwestern nearly 20 minutes to get on the board, but once they did, the 16th-ranked 'Cats had no trouble putting away Saint Louis on a rainy Tuesday, cruising past the Billikens, 6-1.

Junior Chelsea Armstrong topped the Wildcat record books for the second time this year -- she broke Sannie Van Djick's 23-year career points record of 139 points last week -- this time becoming NU's all-time leader in goals scored. With her first of three goals on the day, Armstrong surpassed Nancy Fisher's 29-year record of 59 career goals. The Aussie's next two tallies pushed her career goal total to 62, and gave her the seventh hat trick of her exceptional career. Armstrong also distanced herself from the rest of the pack as NU's career points leader, currently sitting at 150 points.

"Chelsea is having an unbelievable season and it's been fun watching her climb the record books while being such a great teammate at the same time," said head coach Tracey Fuchs. "This year especially she has been a great role model on and off the field for younger players on this team. When we're executing on the penalty corners the way we did today, we have a great chance of being successful this season."

It was an unexpected face on offense, however, who scored first for the Wildcats, when defensive specialist, senior Megan Jamieson, notched her first career goal with a beautiful shot off a misdirection on a corner. Once fed by Regan Mooney, Armstrong is usually the one who will take the corner shot, but instead of sliding the ball to the Aussie, Jamie Orrico passed it to Jamieson, setting her up nicely for a goal from the left half of the circle, putting NU up, 1-0, with 15 minutes left in the first.

Just over three minutes later, Armstrong broke the record with her first goal of the day, an unassisted shot close to the cage. With the 2-0 lead, Northwestern was not finished piling on the Billikens.

Mooney, who finished with four points on the day, got in the scoring mix with a deflection of her own off an Armstrong shot. The goal was Mooney's sixth of the season, good enough for second on the team. Momentum certainly swung Northwestern's way in the first half, earning a 3-0 lead heading into the break, and not allowing a single shot on goal.

Five minutes into the second stanza, Armstrong recorded her second goal of the day off a nice pass from Julia Retzky. Now up 4-0, Northwestern held its commanding lead, not only on the scoreboard, but on the field as well. Saint Louis was hard-pressed to find an opportunity to cross midfield on a stout Wildcat defense.

Merely three minutes following Armstrong's goal, Claire Thompson recorded her fourth goal in three games with a great shot close to the goal. Mooney reeled off a shot, rebounded and sent the ball to Thompson, allowing the senior to score tap in her fifth goal of the season.

Not finished on offense, the Wildcats kept pressing, and it paid off when Armstrong converted another one of Northwestern's 12 penalty corners. With a feed from Kelsey Thompson, Shannon Disbrow, placed it neatly for Armstrong to pick up and send in, giving the junior a hat trick for the day.

Facing a shutout, Saint Louis was given a corner with about 10 seconds to play. Nicole Kent pushed in the corner feed, Caiti Brownell received and set it for junior Lexi Linblad who beat the clock by one second, giving the Billikens' their lone goal.

Northwestern (9-3, 0-1) returns to the road for one last swing away from Lakeside Field, with trips to East Lansing, Mich., to face Michigan State at 2 p.m. Thursday, and College Park, Pa., to take on Penn State at 11 a.m., Sunday. The Penn State game will be aired on a tape delay at 3 p.m. the same day.

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