Team 2 bounced back with a decisive win in “Mount Rushmore of Northwestern athletics” after a lame duck performance in week one. Team 1 has engaged in some serious soul searching after selecting Billy McKinney as its first round pick, but sources say they are back on track after a players only meeting.
This week, we drafted the eight national championship winning teams from Northwestern lacrosse. As a refresher, there are two teams made up of four writers each, and the goal is to select the best four-pick
squad for each category. You can vote on which team you think is best on @InsideNU on X and in a poll at the bottom of this article until the next Mount Rushmore piece gets introduced next Tuesday.
Team 1: Harris Horowitz, Brendan Preisman, Matt Campbell and Calvin Kaplan
Team 2: Miguel Muñoz, Yanyan Li, Sai Trivedi and Charlie Jacobs
This week’s category is: Northwestern lacrosse national championships
1.01: Team 1 selects 2009 (23-0)
An easy first choice. This was the fifth straight national championship for Northwestern, which had some unbelievable wins in 2009, going undefeated and even securing a running clock in its national championship 21-7 blowout of No. 3 UNC. Hannah Nielsen, with 59 goals and 83 assists, was the engine in points, and Katrina Dowd, Danielle Spencer and Hilary Bowen each had 55+ goals as well. To win it all in back-to-back seasons after the graduation of Kristen Kjellman is a feat to behold, and the ‘Cats achieved it in 2009, capping off a legendary run of dominance.
— Calvin Kaplan
1.02: Team 2 selects 2005 (21-0)
Team 2’s first pick goes to Northwestern’s second undefeated title run named in this draft and the one that started it all, sparking one of the greatest dynasties in the sport. This title was not only significant for the Wildcats but was also monumental for the growth of lacrosse, as it was the first time a men’s or women’s program outside of the Eastern Time Zone won a national title.
The 2005 squad was the culmination of Kelly Amonte Hiller’s efforts to build Northwestern from the bottom up — seniors on that team went 5-10 in their freshman season and finished their careers as champions. Led by Tewaaraton finalist and Honda Award winner Kristen Kjellman, who racked up 59 goals, 32 assists and 65 draw controls for the ‘Cats, it also fielded four other All-Americans in Courtney Koester, Lindsey Munday, Sarah Albrecht and Laura Glassanos.
After a 17-0 regular season run, Northwestern entered the NCAA tournament as the No. 1 seed, but doubters still weren’t sure if it could live up to its potential. But then went on a collision course to take down the “old guard” of lacrosse. It defeated 2002 and 2003 champions (and 2004 finalist) Princeton 8-6 in the quarterfinals, Dartmouth 8-4 in the semi-finals and then finally defending champions Virginia 13-10 in a revenge title game, as the Hoos beat the Wildcats in the quarterfinals a year prior.
In fact, this title run was so special that former Inside NU Editor-in-Chief Sophia Vlahakis wrote an award-winning feature piece on it. You can check it out here.
-Yanyan Li
2.01: Team 2 selects 2023 (21-1)
After three straight heartbreaking defeats in the NCAA semifinals, head coach Amonte Hiller believed her team was at an inflection point. When approaching the 2023 season, she claimed to be ‘ hitting the reset button — completely resetting this program and going back to how it started in 2005.’”
That button was pushed, and the results were cemented with NU defeating Boston College 18-6 in the NCAA championship game to net Northwestern’s first title since 2012, breaking an 11-year drought. It also punctuated a 21 game winning streak, with the ‘Cats dropping just one game the entire season.
The ‘Cats were tested the entire year, and they prevailed each time. They dominated Denver, the top-ranked defense in the country at the time, in a 15-7 semifinal victory. They showed no fear facing Boston College despite it being the Eagle’s sixth straight title game, with NU controlling the championship battle from the start and making it abundantly clear which team deserved the trophy more. The road to the title was not easy, making the victory all-the-more precious.
Izzy Scane was the season’s headliner, finishing the year leading the nation in goals, including netting a game-leading four in the championship victory. Coming off an ACL injury the previous season, Scane’s resilience and prowess shined. She earned the Tewaaraton Award for her accomplishments and etched herself into the Wildcat history books.
After years of devastating eliminations, this win didn’t just reinvigorate the program — it catapulted it back on top of the lacrosse hierarchy.
— Sai Trivedi
2.02: Team 1 selects 2008 (21-1)
The 2008 national champions have a real argument to be the greatest all around team of the eight. The first title winning team without two-time Tewaaraton winner and program legend Kristen Kjellman, this iteration of the ‘Cats affirmed the program’s dynasty status with the fourth of five consecutive national championship trophies. Hannah Nielsen ensured that the Tewaaraton remained in Evanston as well, winning her first of two consecutive awards in 2008 and 2009.
Northwestern’s lone loss came in an 11-7 regular season contest on the road against Penn, but Nielsen and Co. would get their revenge a month later in the national championship. The ‘Cats won that game 10-6, buoyed by their stifling defense as they were throughout the 2008 title run. Northwestern allowed double-digit goals in just six games all season and just once in the NCAA tournament in a blowout win over Princeton. Perhaps the most dominant Northwestern team of all time, the 2008 team never trailed in periods two through four of either of its four tournament contests, winning each by an average margin of 6.75 goals.
— Harris Horowitz
3.01: Team 1 selects 2011 (21-2)
In 2010, for the first time since George W. Bush’s first term, a team that wasn’t the Wildcats hoisted the national championship trophy. The 13-11 loss to Maryland was gutting for the Lake Show, especially given that it was Katrina Dowd’s final collegiate game. To twist the knife even further, Northwestern held a 6-0 lead less than 10 minutes into the game (shades of 2024, anyone?) before a 7-0 Maryland run that spanned over 20 minutes of gameplay put the Terps in the drivers’ seat for good.
The Wildcats responded by winning their first 12 games of 2011, with a mind-boggling 10 of those wins coming against ranked opponents. Consecutive road losses to No. 6 Florida and unranked Johns Hopkins threatened to derail the campaign, but the Wildcats responded with three straight ranked wins to close the regular season. In the ALC tournament, the Wildcats took their seventh consecutive conference title by coming back from an 8-5 second half deficit to exact revenge on Florida. The victory also earned the Wildcats the No. 2 seed in the NCAA Tournament.
Northwestern started its run by defeating first-time qualifier Boston College, then smoking No. 7 Albany 18-4 to advance to the Final Four. The Wildcats survived No. 3 North Carolina 11-10 thanks to a game-winning goal from Shannon Smith with just 18 seconds remaining. Smith then exacted revenge on Maryland by scoring four goals in Northwestern’s 8-7 victory to clinch the national title, including the clinching goal with 4:36 to play. Smith took home not only the national championship trophy, but also the Tewaaraton and Honda Awards, Big Ten Player of the Year, Division 1 Attacker of the Year, and NCAA Championship MVP. Her 86 goals (despite playing without a shot clock) is still the sixth-best mark in program history, behind only Madison Taylor and Izzy Scane. And since she also tallied 42 assists, her points mark of 128 (again, without a shot clock) is still fourth all-time in Wildcat lore.
— Brendan Preisman
3.02: Team 2 selects 2006 (20-1)
The second straight national championship in what would eventually turn out to be a three-peat (see: our next pick) for a particularly dominant era of Wildcats lacrosse, NU capped off an impeccable 20-1 season with a championship win over Darmouth, 7-4.
Coming into the tournament as the four-seed, NU’s greatest strength in this year was far and away its offensive output. The Wildcats were the highest-scoring team in the nation per game, scoring 15.7 goals per contest. They went a near-perfect 16-1 in regular season play, with a lone loss to Duke. Their biggest challenge, in fact, would be against the top-seeded Blue Devils, who they faced off in a rematch in the semifinals after rolling through the first two rounds.
But led by eventual tournament MVP Sarah Albrecht and Tewaaraton finalist Kristen Kjellman, the ‘Cats squeaked past Duke in an absolute thriller, winning 11-10 in overtime. And despite losing Kjellman to an ankle injury midway through the championship, heroics from Albrecht and Aly Josephs were enough to get the Wildcats their second-straight championship, the third-team ever to do so.
— Miguel Muñoz
4.01: Team 2 selects 2007 (21-1)
Lo and behold, yet another one-loss season for Northwestern. In 2007, it suffered a 9-8 overtime loss to North Carolina to begin the year but then went on a 21-game win streak to win its third consecutive national championship. In addition, it also took home its first-ever ALC tournament title and a fourth-consecutive conference regular season title.
This iteration of the Wildcats dominated, winning 14 of its games by 10 or more goals. This included a 22-5 victory of Johns Hopkins in the ALC tournament, and a 12-2 domination of UPenn in the NCAA semi-finals on the Quakers’ home field. In the national title game, they defeated Virginia 15-13 in a battle where Hillary Bowen put up a heroic performance, tallying five goals and two assists en route to Final Four Most Outstanding Player honors.
2007 was also special because it was a team that included the best version of Kristen Kjellman and Hannah Nielsen, arguably two of Northwestern’s three best players of all time, as teammates. Kjellman recorded 66 goals, 24 assists, 80 draw controls, 34 ground balls and 26 caused turnovers in her final collegiate season, which culminated in her becoming the first lacrosse player (male or female) to win multiple Tewaaraton awards. Meanwhile Nielsen’s 50 goals and 69 assists would earn her a maiden Tewaaraton finalist honor, before she went on to win two of her own in 2008 and 2009.
-Yanyan Li
4.02: Team 1 selects 2012 (21-2)
There were only two squads that beat this cohort of Wildcats: Florida, who beat the ‘Cats in the ALC championship game, and Team USA.
Yes. Team USA. The runner up in that year’s world cup. A team that featured none other than future Northwestern head coach Kelly Amonte Hiller.
This one mind-boggling fact is the only way one can do justice to the dominance of this ‘Cats roster, led by Honda Sport Award winner Taylor Thornton, who tied the then single-season ground ball record with 58 pickups on the year to go along with a career-high 71 draw controls and 28 caused turnovers.
Undoubtedly, the schedule that Northwestern faced in 2012 was one of its toughest in program history. 19 of their 23 matchups that season came against ranked opponents, 13 of those 19 foes ranked in the top 10.
NU’s championship run in 2012 was led by Thornton, who did it all for the ‘Cats, as well as leading scorers in Shannon Smith and Erin Fitzgerald, while Alex Frank and Lacey Vigmostad anchored the defense. A truly fundamentally sound lacrosse team.
-Matt Campbell
Final rosters
Team 1:
- 2009
- 2008
- 2011
- 2012
Team 2:
- 2005
- 2023
- 2006
- 2007
Vote on X at @InsideNU, and let us know anything you think we missed in the comments. Also, please add suggestions for future categories. For next week’s Mount Rushmore, we’re going to be drafting each of Northwestern lacrosse’s eight national championship-winning teams.
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