In a game filled with small-scale comebacks, No. 4 Northwestern Lacrosse (11-3, 5-1 B1G) extended its win streak to six with a 17-12 victory over No. 18 Penn State (11-4, 3-3 B1G). The win marked Northwestern head coach Kelly Amonte Hiller’s 400th career win, a feat that only three other active coaches have bested.
Yet, at the beginning of the first quarter, it wasn’t quite clear whether the ‘Cats were going to get Amonte Hiller
over the line.
In a manner eerily reminiscent of its Thursday match against Maryland, Northwestern gave up two goals in the first five minutes of the game. Rocquette Allen struck first, throwing off Madison Smith to fire an underhand shot past Jenika Cuocco. Just two minutes later, Erika Ho doubled the lead from outside of the crease.
For much of the first quarter, the Nittany Lions’ brutal zone defense confined Northwestern’s passing to the perimeter of the fan and forced its offense to work against the ticking of the shot clock. Penn State goalkeeper Sydney Manning added to her team’s early defensive momentum with her five saves in the opening 15 minutes.
Northwestern’s first offensive results came with time, as Noel Cumberland cashed in on a free position with 7:22 to go in the first quarter. Even as two defenders closed down on her, Cumberland weaved through tight space and released a shot past Manning.
Just over a minute later, Taylor tied the game at 2-2 on another free position.
But Penn State remained hungry, and it caught Northwestern off-guard in an aspect of the game the ‘Cats normally thrive in: the transition. A strong carry downfield by Hannah Hoyt led to the stick of Kelly Mackinney, who received the ball up high and twisted to fire an underhand goal against a helpless Cuocco.
Interestingly, the majority of Northwestern’s five allowed goals in the first half were not due to poor marking or defensive incohesion as they were against Ohio State and Colorado. It was explosive footwork of the Nittany Lions that allowed Ho and Anna Salerno to overcome Northwestern defenders — and two game-tying goals from Taylor Lapointe and Kate Ratanaproeksa — to give Penn State the 5-4 lead with 8:13 to go in the first half.
Enter: Madison Taylor.
Taylor’s cataclysmic role in Northwestern’s offensive performance against Penn State began with a give-and-go goal off a Lucy Munro assist to even the game at five with 6:39 left in the half. Thanks to the combination of Taylor and an offensive slump from the Nittany Lions in which they struggled to clear the ball and maintain possession, Northwestern found a weak spot against its adversaries in University Park.
It took a bit for the ‘Cats to find a groove — four minutes, to be exact — but with 2:01 to go, Lauren Archer got her third goal of the season. It was then Taylor who scooped up a ground ball in the midfield off a missed cross-crease pass and found Hannah Rudolph for an incredible solo run to tip the scales to 7-5 in Northwestern’s favor heading into halftime.
When Northwestern re-took the field in the third quarter, it felt as though its rough first quarter performance had been wiped off the face of the Earth: Taylor found the net just three minutes into the second half, and 35 seconds later did it again, making the game 9-5. With another quick assist to Aditi Foster and an unassisted goal that began at X to put the ‘Cats up 11-5, Taylor was an unstoppable force.
After finding itself on the wrong end of a 7-0 Northwestern run, Penn State finally recovered its offensive footing with 5:58 to go in the third. A series of ping-pong goals from both the ‘Cats and the Nittany Lions saw the score rise to 13-7 at the end of the quarter.
Mackinney started the fourth quarter off fiery for Penn State, scoring a goal in the opening 27 seconds that occurred in a blink of an eye. Cumberland quickly recovered for the ‘Cats and kickstarted a 3-0 run with one of her signature under-pressure goals. Foster and Epke also added to the tally.
If you thought the game was over with six minutes to go and Northwestern up 16-8, don’t worry, so did Kelly Amonte Hiller, who swapped out Cuocco in net for Francesca Argentieri for her first appearance since March 21. Unluckily for Argentieri, her four minutes in net coincided with a four-goal Penn State surge piloted by Delaney Radin, who notched two during the late-game push. Amonte Hiller opted to put Cuocco back in with two minutes remaining.
The ‘Cats kept calm though the finish and in an apt display of game-changing ability, with one second left on the clock, Taylor ended her day of dominance the only way she knows how: by meeting the net.
One last score from Maddy T gave Northwestern a 17-12 victory on Sunday, locking down number 400 for her beloved head coach.
The Wildcats will return to Evanston to play Rutgers on Wednesday and to maintain their positive momentum with their fourth straight Big Ten regular season championship in close proximity.
