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5/5/2006 EVANSTON, Ill. — With a seven-point performance from senior Kate Hickman, the Vanderbilt women’s lacrosse gave top-ranked Northwestern all they could handle Friday, before falling, 14-9, to the defending national champions. The Wildcats took a 10-1 lead early in the second half, but Vanderbilt clawed back into the game by scoring four straight times in a 13-minute span and outscoring Northwestern, 9-5, in the final 25 minutes. Northwestern (16-1, 5-0 American Lacrosse Conference) scored the game’s first three goals, holding Vanderbilt (6-9, 2-3 ALC) scoreless until the 16th minute of play. A Nicole Pugno assist found Hickman open in front of the goal for Vanderbilt’s first tally at the 15:07 mark. The Wildcats closed the half on a six-goal run to take a 9-1 lead into the break. The game changed in the second half, as the Commodore offense began to rattle Northwestern’s defenders. Pugno tallied VU’s first goal of the second half off an assist from junior Kendall Thrift in the 37th minute. The Commodores would tally four-straight goals to bring the NU lead down to five. Hickman assisted sophomore Margie Curran on a tally in the 42nd minute before scoring two goals of her own. Less than a minute after her helper to Curran, Hickman picked up a rebound from a Thrift shot and beat NU keeper Morgan Lathrop. The fourth goal of the run came in the 43rd minute, as Thrift posted her second assist of the game on yet another Hickman score. A yellow card on sophomore midfielder Sasha Cielak put the already undermanned Commodore defense without its all-conference star for three minutes, and the Wildcats capitalized. Three goals in that span took the NU lead back to eight with 13 minutes to play. Northwestern was able to eat time off the clock, but the Commodores stayed aggressive and got on the board again in the 55th minute as junior Jennifer Tapscott scored when Hickman made a quick pass after earning an eight-meter attempt. The teams traded goals in the next minute, as a Northwestern score was quickly by Vanderbilt. Freshman Cara Giordano earned a draw control for the Commodores, then threw a pass over the top of the Northwestern defense to Hickman. Vanderbilt’s most dangerous attacker finished for her fourth goal of the game. In the final minute, the Vanderbilt attack capitalized on two more scoring opportunities. Tapscott earned a free position attempt with 50 seconds remaining in the game, and found Hickman for her fifth tally of the contest. Cielak controlled the ensuing draw and the ball made its way to Curran, who beat Lathrop on a well-placed shot from six meters out. Vanderbilt held the Wildcat attack under 15 goals for only the fourth time this season. Junior Molly Frew had three caused turnovers and three ground balls for the Commodores. Sophomores Michele Slotke and goalkeeper Brooke Shinaberry led VU with four ground balls each. Shinaberry made nine saves on the day, stopping half of NU’s shots on goal in the second half. The Commodores will close the 2006 season on Sunday, travelling to South Bend, Ind., to face No. 7 Notre Dame at Noon ET. |
