Not long ago, it felt as if Northwestern’s legendary run of lacrosse dominance had finally come to an end.
In a tense Big Ten home opener, the Wildcats found themselves tied 15-15 with Ohio State as the final two minutes of regulation approached. Jenika Cuocco, the centerpiece of a defense that had struggled throughout the afternoon, could only tighten her grip on her stick as the Buckeyes won a crucial draw and surged forward on the attack.
Moving from east to west, Ohio State ramped up the pressure
in search of the go-ahead goal, swinging the ball along the endline as Cuocco tried to anticipate who would take the decisive shot. The answer was Kampbell Stone, who fired a shot just inside the left pipe and into the back of the net.
A Stone’s throw handed NU its third home loss of 2026 and its second against an unranked opponent — a fate that hadn’t befallen Northwestern in over 20 years.
And now its happened not once, but twice, in the same season.
After such an unimaginable loss, it seemed as though the magic of Northwestern lacrosse was gone. The legendary Izzy Scane, possibly the greatest Northwestern lacrosse player ever, had long departed the program and so had her partner in crime in Erin Coykendall. The core of last season’s squad: Sam Smith, Jordi Miles, Nikki Miles, Jane Hansen and Riley Campbell were no longer in purple and while.
All that remained in that moment was Madison Taylor. Yet, ‘Cats faithful will soon be forced to face the music once she too moves on from Northwestern after this season.
After a near-decade on top of the world, it felt like NU was on a unceremonious, uncomfortable, unsettling decline.
Then, the ’Cats flew out to Chapel Hill to take on No. 1 North Carolina: a team that hadn’t lost a game at Dorrance Field in quite some time. 16 straight victories at home, to be exact.
The rematch of the 2025 National Championship took place exactly two years to the day that the Tar Heels last lost a game on their territory.
The team to knock them off? A Scane-led Wildcat squad that ran UNC off its own field.
But since then, Kelly Amonte Hiller hadn’t been able to beat Jenny Levy, and when considering how much the ‘Cats had been struggling this season, it appeared that trend would continue. Especially when Cuocco had to relive her biggest nightmare.
Northwestern had battled, and battled, and battled itself into an overtime period. However, Cuocco could do nothing but watch as Sarah Gresham won the opening draw of overtime for North Carolina.
Before she knew it, a whistle was blown and Kiley Mottice would be lining up on the right elbow for a free position.
Here we go again.
As Mottice readied her stick for the shot, everyone at Dorrance Field prepared for the inevitable: a 17th straight win in Chapel Hill for the women in Carolina Blue.
But this time, Cuocco was ready for the moment.
She stopped the shot.
She gave Northwestern life.
Life that propelled them to achieving a feat that looked impossible for this Northwestern squad to do: beating UNC on the road. Madison Taylor and company went the other way and put a shot in the net to do just that.
And just like that, Northwestern lacrosse, a team that was ranked outside the top-10 for the first time since 2018, finally performed like the premier program that its molded itself into in the 21st century.
But the way it was able to project that image on Wednesday was unconventional. It wasn’t normal for what the world is accustomed to seeing from NU.
Back in 2024, when the Wildcats defeated the Tar Heels, it was a one-woman show. Seven goals from Scane was the engine to a convincing win.
Wednesday, in contrast, was a shootout. It was a dogfight. It was physical.
And it took all 11 players on the field to pull off a Scane-like feat.
It started in the draw circle, with Maddie Epke’s poise driving her season-high 15 draw controls for the ‘Cats, helping NU to a plus-five advantage on the draw. Then, it was the defense staying on point, causing seven UNC turnovers and scooping up 11 ground balls, with Hannah Rudolph taking the lead on the effort, matching her career highs in both categories. In the scoring, five different players shouldered the load with multiple goals on the night, while four more adding on singular goals.
And our protagonist of the story turned in the most clutch performance of them all. 12 saves, including five in the fourth quarter and three consecutive stops to end her night as the winning goalkeeper.
Wednesday was a win that wasn’t put one player in the spotlight. Rather, it was a collective 20 woman effort that was the headline of a signature Wildcat victory.
It’s not the same team, not the same system, not the same faces synonymous with the program and its history. But the greatness of Northwestern lacrosse continues to manifest itself and keeps the ‘Cats atop the sport.
