The top-ranked and defending national champion Northwestern Wildcats wasted no time at home against the Ohio lacrosse team during both teams' first American Lacrosse Conference game of the season, downing the Bobcats, 19-3.
The Wildcats (4-0, 1-0 ALC) earned their 25th consecutive win. The Bobcats (1-4, 0-1 ALC) add one more loss to their season, but have yet to lose a game to a team not ranked in the top 20.
We went just went out there thinking that we're not going to be afraid of them
that they're just lacrosse players like us attacker Frannie Sullivan said.
The Wildcats scored three goals in the first five minutes of play. Kari Fasick scored the Bobcats' lone goal of the first half off a pass from teammate Kiersten McLouth, but Northwestern would go on to score nine more goals before the break.
What hurt us is that we were getting defensive stops early on but we really had trouble transitioning the ball up the field
coach Allison Valentino said. They put a lot of pressure on us in the midfield
and we just really weren't able to turn those defensive stops into offensive possessions for us. We were turning the ball over right away
and it really just tired out our defense.
Sullivan explained the trouble in transitioning.
They were aggressive all over the field
Sullivan said. If there was a ground ball
(the Wildcats) had three people on it. They just swarmed you all over the field and pretty much just trapped you wherever you were. They got most of the draw controls
which is crucial for them.
Valentino was happier with Ohio's performance in the second half. The Bobcats only turned the ball over three times compared with 10 turnovers from the first half. The 13 turnovers are a season low for the 'Cats.
We hustled all over the field
midfielder Shannon Hadaway said. I have to give a lot of credit to our defense. Our defense and (goalkeeper) Jen Heup just got pounded.
Heup made a career-high 17 saves in the game, and defender Lindsey Marshall had a team-high three ground balls.
Valentino said that the team will use the game as a real learning experience, as they aspire toward building their young program, as Northwestern has done in the past four years.
The Bobcats play their next game Friday in Maryland against Johns Hopkins.
