May 5, 2006

Box Score

EVANSTON, Ill. -- Kristen Kjellman led three Wildcats with three goals each and Morgan Lathrop recorded 13 saves in goal to lead No. 1 Northwestern past a stingy Vanderbilt Commodore (6-9, 2-3) squad 14-9 today in the regular-season finale. The win gives the outright ALC title to the Wildcats (16-1, 5-0) who have finished undefeated in the conference for the second straight year.

Northwestern is now 16-1 in ALC play over the last three seasons. The conference crown is their third straight and second outright title in as many years.

The Wildcats will now await their seeding in this year's NCAA Championship which will be announced at 7 p.m. CT on Monday, May 8 on CSTV-channel 610 on DirecTV and 152 on Dish Network.

The beginning of the game was a carbon-copy of almost every contest this season as the Wildcats raced out to a 9-1 lead and made it to 10-1 when Lindsey Munday found Sarah Albrecht 42 seconds into the second half.

Three straight goals by Meredith Frank, Kjellman and Albrecht opened the scoring in the first half before Kate Hickman tallied VU's first goal at the 14:52 mark. But then NU went on another one of its demoralizing runs, scoring the game's next seven goals.

But the Commodores didn't go down without a fight as four straight goals cut NU's lead to 10-5 with 18:33 remaining. The Wildcats, however, scored four of the next five to give them enough breathing room for the rest of the game.

Vanderbilt scored three straight goals to close out the game, two coming in the final minute.

Albrecht and Frank each tallied three goals and one assist while Munday also had four points, but with one goal and three assists. Aly Josephs finished with two goals while Casey Donohoe and Hilary Bowen each had one. It was Donohoe's first goal in her Northwestern career.

Hickman led all scorers with five goals and two assists for seven points. Brooke Shinaberry (6-9) had nine saves in goal.

Game Notes: NU is 50-2 in its last 52 regular-season games and 16-1 in ALC play over the last three years ... NU won for the 18th straight time at home, four away from the record of 22 held by Maryland ... Casey Donohoe recorded her first career goal ... Kjellman recorded her 14th game with a hat trick or better and leads the team with 61 goals ... Munday had her 13th multiple-assist game with three assists today ... Frank has scored 13 goals over her last six games.