Northwestern falls in Big Ten lacrosse title game to Maryland
Northwestern's women's lacrosee team had top-seeded and top-ranked Maryland on the ropes in the Big Ten Tournament title game Sunday afternoon, but a few missed opportunities and a timely run by the Terrapins resulted in the Wildcats falling at Lanny and Sharon Martin Stadium, 12-9.
The Wildcats outshot the Terrapins 26-19 and had a 13-10 advantage in draw controls, but a 5-0 run by the Terps midway through the second half allowed them to pull away and ultimately claim their first Big Ten Tournament title.
The Wildcats will next play Louisville in the first round of the NCAA Division I women's lacrosse tournament. The Wildcats will travel to South Bend, Indiana, to take on the Cardinals. The winner will advance to the second round to take on No. 6 seed Notre Dame. Northwestern and Louisville have met in each of the last two postseasons, with the Wildcats eliminating the Cardinals in the second round of the 2014 tournament, 11-8, and in the first round last year, 10-7.
On Sunday, Northwestern grabbed an early 1-0 lead just 2:19 into the contest when sophomore Selena Lasota beat a pair of Maryland defenders from the left side of the fan, but gave the lead up on a 4-0 run by the Terps that made it a 4-1 game with 17:02 to go in the first half.
The 'Cats were able to quickly erase the three-goal deficit with a run of their own however, scoring four goals in ia span of 2:27 to reclaim the lead. Junior Christina Esposito scored a pair of goals in a span of 57 seconds and senior Kaleigh Craig followed up Esposito's second goal with her first of the day just 16 seconds later on an assist from Lasota.
Lasota picked up her second assist with 11:31 left in the first half on a goal by freshman Leighton Yenor to give the home team the lead, 5-4.
Maryland tied things back up on a goal by Bryn Boucher with 6:52 to go in the half, but Esposito completed her first-half hat trick with a series of fakes at the crease to put the 'Cats back in front, 6-5.
After a Maryland turnover in the midfield the Wildcats had a chance to push the lead to two going into the break, but Craig's fastbreak shot went just wide and the Terps quickly came down the field to tie the game at 6-6 on Caroline Wannen's third goal of the first half.
The Terps scored just 56 seconds into the second half to go ahead, 8-7, but a goal by junior Danita Stroup on a feed from sophomore Shelby Fredericks evened things right back up less than two minutes later, 7-7. Unfortunately, the #B1GCats went scoreless for the next 20 minutes and the Terps were able to score five unanswered to take a 12-7 lead.
Northwestern didn't go down without swinging though, scoring a pair of goals in a span of 14 seconds to put the Terps on their heels. A crease violation by Maryland keeper Megan Taylor gave the 'Cats a chance with 1:32 left where Craig found Lasota for a goal and then the sophomore returned the favor to the senior with 1:18 on the clock to cut the lead to three, 12-9.
Esposito won her career-best third draw control of the game on the ensuing draw and the 'Cats worked it down the field looking to cut the lead to two, but an errant pass gave the ball back to the Terps. NU got one last chance out of a UMD timeout as Craig intercepted a pass while still in the 'Cats' attacking zone, but a pass across the middle resulted in another Northwestern turnover to end the game.
Lasota, who finished with a career-best three assists and had team-best 13 points in the three Big Ten Tournament games, was named to the All-Tournament Team along with Esposito and sophomore Ally Mueller.
Mueller had yet to appear in a game all season prior to the Big Ten Tournament as she worked to rehab an injury sustained in the fall, but played in all three games and made two starts to help slow down a pair of high-powered opposing players. She held Penn State's Steph Lazo to just one point and one shot in the semifinal win over the Nittany Lions on Friday and limited Megan Whiltte to just one goal before suffering an upper-body injury late in the game.
In addition to the stellar play by Lasota and Esposito on the attack, Craig finished with a pair of goals and an assist for her 17th multi-point game of the season. Freshman goalkeeper Mallory Weisse made five saves and finished the tournament with 20 in three games. Lasota and Esposito led the 'Cats with two caused turnovers apiece and Fredericks had a team-high four draw controls to move into third on the NU single-season list with 112.