The Northwestern Wildcats women’s lacrosse team is not only the perennially top-ranked team in the nation, but also the defending NCAA champions. The Blue Jays understood the importance of this match-up in their quest to put the team back on the map towards a national title after an already successful season.
Hopkins fought hard all game — jumping back from a six-point deficit throughout much of the game to tie the match at 11 at one point. However, the Blue Jays late push was not enough for the victory as the Wildcats scored five of the last six goals and went on to win the conference match-up, 16-12.
Northwestern began the match with their foot on the pedal, scoring the first six goals while holding Hopkins scoreless for the opening 20 minutes. With two goals and two assists, Northwestern’s Shannon Smith was the protagonist of this onslaught of offense. Erin Fitzgerald scored three of the first four while Kara Mupo was able to put one into the back of the net with the third goal of the game.
Almost like a wake-up call, Hopkins sparked and began their comeback. Freshman Jenna Kasmarik was the first to break the ice and scored a free position goal with ten minutes left in the half. But the Wildcat’s momentum was not swayed just yet as Kelly Rich received a great feed from Amanda Macaluso, stretching the lead back to six at 7-1 Northwestern.
While the goal was scored for the Wildcats, it seemed to fire up the Blue Jays enough to put them back in the game. Sophomore Sarah Taylor and senior Rachel Ballatori scored impressive back-to-back goals within a minute of each other.
The Wildcats were quick to answer, however, with two goals of their own: another goal from Smith and Ali Cassera’s first of the day. Time was ticking away in the first half and, down 9-3, Ballatori found the net once again with just less than 30 seconds left. Sophomore Taylor D’Amore got her hand into the action as well and scored nearly 21-seconds later bringing down Northwestern’s lead to 9-5 going into the half.
D’Amore’s goal was the 100th point of her career, an amazing feat for a sophomore with just 30 career games played. She is the fasted Blue Jay to reach this benchmark since former Blue Jay star Mary Key in 2005.
After coming up big in the clutch and assisting on both goals at the end of the half, senior Candace Rossi stepped up once again and scored just 10 seconds into the second half. But as the first half proved, the Wildcats do not back down after giving up a goal. After somewhat of an offensive hiatus for Northwestern’s sophomore, Mupo pushed her way into position and scored with a pair of goals in a quick spurt; with 27 minutes still left to play, Hopkins trailed 11-6.
At that point things began to click for Hopkins as they went on to tie the game at 11 with five unanswered goals. The first two came by way of senior Colleen McCaffrey with assists from sophomore Sammy Cermack and D’Amore. Rossi, Cermack, and Ballatori each scored consecutively afterwards to tie the game at 11.
This time it was Northwestern receiving the wake-up call and took the game back into their hands — and this time proceeded to hold on to it. Fitzgerald stuck first, followed by a pair from Casey Bocklet. The five-goal jump was rounded off with an unassisted goal from Kat DeRonda and a free position shot from Beatrice Conley. Rossi concluded the high scoring game with only a minute to play as the Wildcats held on to the victory, 16-12.
Hopkins returns to the field on Saturday, April 21st as they will play their final regular season road game of the year against the Penn State Nittany Lions.
