April 26, 2007
Complete Release in PDF Format
Download Free Acrobat Reader
EVANSTON, Ill. -- No. 1 Northwestern will attempt to close out the regular season in style, and in the process, win the American Lacrosse Conference title outright with a win over Ohio State at 4 p.m. CT Friday afternoon in Evanston. The Wildcats have already clinched a share of their fourth-straight conference title and a No. 1 seed in next week's ALC Tournament after defeating Johns Hopkins last Friday in Baltimore. Northwestern will then honor its 2007 seniors at 1 p.m. on Sunday before taking on Hofstra.
Friday, April 27 is American Airlines Day!
All fans can receive a 10 percent discount voucher on a future American Airlines flight, and one Northwestern student will win free roundtrip airfare. Also, catch Northwestern a capella group Purple Haze as they perform at halftime.
Wear Flip-Flops To Sunday's Game
Fans can show their support for the Wildcat lacrosse seniors in their final regular-season home game as well as the Friends of Jaclyn Foundation by wearing flip-flops to the Sunday, April 29 game with Hofstra. If 500 fans attend the game in flip-flops, the 'Cats will donate free airfare to the foundation. All fans also will be entered to win a pair of "Jaclyn's Garden of Healing" flip-flops, designed by Jaclyn herself.
Strong Showing
Though small in number, the ALC has proven to be one of the strongest leagues in the nation in 2007. This week, all five teams are ranked in the IWLCA Top 20 poll. Northwestern sits at No. 1, followed by Vanderbilt (9), Johns Hopkins (13), Penn State (15) and Ohio State (17).
ALC Win Streak
Northwestern has not lost an ALC match since its regular-season finale in 2004 to Vanderbilt. They enter Friday's game with Ohio State with 14-straight conference wins and are 19-1 since 2004.
Trio Among Tewaaraton Finalists
The Tewaaraton Award Foundation last Friday narrowed its preseason list to 17 finalists for this year's Tewaaraton Trophy and among them are sophomores Hannah Nielsen (35g, 38a) and Meredith Frank (36g, 12a) and last year's winner, Kristen Kjellman (40g, 17a). Of these players, five finalists will be selected and the winner will be announced at the Tewaaraton Awards Banquet on May 30th, 2007 in Washington, D.C.
Home Cookin'
The Wildcats are one tough cookie at home, winning 28-straight games in Evanston dating to 2004. Northwestern went unbeaten at home the past two seasons and is 8-0 in Evanston so far this year. The NCAA record is 41 home wins in a row set by Maryland from 1997-2001.
Scouting Ohio State
The Buckeyes (9-5, 1-2) are one of the surprise teams in the ALC this season and have cracked the top 20 in both major polls after winning three of their last four, highlighted by a 9-8 win at No. 8 Penn State and a one-point loss to No. 15 Vanderbilt. Kristen Slahor leads the team with 68 points and is second in the NCAA ranks with 42 assists (3.0 per game) to compliment 26 goals. Jessica Patane leads the team with 36 goals while Kelly Haggerty is second with 28. Kristen Gilwee (8-4) has started all 14 games in goal, allowing 10.2 goals per game. The head coach of the Buckeyes is Sue Stimmel in her 12th season.
Scouting Hofstra
After a slow 2-4 start that included losses to three ranked teams, the Pride are now sitting pretty at 9-5 after winning seven of their last eight games. Casey McGrath and Becky Thorn are Hofstra's top scorers with 36 and 28 goals, respectively. McGrath scored five in the come-from-behind win over Stony Brook on Tuesday. Maisie Osteen has played all 14 games in goal with a 9-3 record and 117 saves as of April 26. Hofstra is led by first-year head coach Abby Morgan who spent three years as an assistant before taking over as head coach last August.
'Cats `D' Puts the Clamps on Opponents
With all the offensive fireworks Northwestern's attack displays, probably the biggest part that gets overlooked is its defense. As of the NCAA stats released April 22, NU currently leads the nation in scoring defense at 6.0 goals per game. Goalkeeper Morgan Lathrop leads in goals-against average (5.84) and in save percentage (.593) while junior Christy Finch is fifth with 2.6 caused turnovers per game. Northwestern has only allowed one opponent--Notre Dame--to score in double-digits this season with 10 goals. Of the 14 games this year, NU's defense has given up just five or fewer goals eight times. They held No. 8 Syracuse--the nation's top scoring team at the time with 15.8 per game--to seven goals, its lowest offensive output of the season and held No. 4 Duke--also more than 15 goals per game coming in--to its lowest offensive output (five goals) since 2005.
Amonte Hiller Named US Lacrosse National Coach of the Week
Kelly Amonte Hiller was selected as the US Lacrosse Women's Coach of the Week for the week ending April 22. She will be recognized on CSTV's lacrosse broadcasts this weekend. Northwestern solidified its No. 1 national ranking with a 12-7 win over No. 2 Maryland last Monday and then went on the road to beat No. 13 Johns Hopkins 12-5 on Friday. Northwestern has won 13-straight since dropping its season opener.
Kjellman Nabs Third ALC Honor
Kristen Kjellman Tuesday picked up her third ALC Player of the Week honor of the season in recognition of her exceptional performance against No. 2 Maryland and No. 13 Johns Hopkins last week. Kjellman had eight goals and one assist in the two games as Northwestern clinched at least a share of its fourth-straight ALC title. Against Maryland the senior notched a hat trick and had seven ground balls in a 12-7 victory over the Terrapins. She added two draw controls and an assist as the 'Cats defeated their third top five team this season. In the 12-5 conference win over Johns Hopkins, Kjellman notched five goals and added two ground balls. After scoring the first two of the game, she notched two more in the decisive second half to help the 'Cats pull away and secure the top seed in next week's ALC tournament, held May 3-6 in Baltimore, Md. Kjellman shared the honor with Ohio State's Jessica Patane.
Kjellman Among Elite Company
With 224 goals and 92 assists (316 points), senior All-American Kristen Kjellman needs eight more assists to become only the eighth player in the history of NCAA Division I women's lacrosse to record at least 200 goals and 100 assists in a career.
For the complete release click the PDF link above.
