April 16, 2007

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Click Here to hear Coach Amonte Hiller's postgame comments

Click Here to listen to Hannah Nielsen's postgame comments

EVANSTON, Ill. -- Time and time again, NU has been put to the test by some of the nation's top teams. And each time the Wildcats have passed with flying colors.

As was the case Monday afternoon as No. 1 Northwestern took care of business, handing No. 2 Maryland a 12-7 defeat at the Lakeside Field in Evanston.

The win moves Northwestern, who has now won 11-straight games, to 11-1 on the year while Maryland slips to 13-2, snapping the Terrapins eight-game win streak.

While many will be quick to point out the three goals apiece from Kristen Kjellman, Meredith Frank and Hilary Bowen as the difference in the game, the real hero was Morgan Lathrop's play between the pipes.

The sophomore from Briarcliff, N.Y., made 14 saves, five of those coming in the first four minutes when Maryland showered NU with shot after shot. But Lathrop held her ground, reaching high and low to deny early shot attempts from Maryland as NU raced out to the early advantage.

"(Morgan is) unbelievable," head coach Kelly Amonte Hiller said after the game. "She is always stepping up. If you remember back to last year in the semifinals against Duke, she was clutch. And she was clutch again today and you can't ask for much more from your goaltender."

Northwestern opened a 3-0 lead with early goals from Aly Josephs, Kjellman and Frank before Maryland finally struck the back of the net with an unassisted goal from Dana Dobbie with 21:56 left.

Frank then made it 4-1 with 20:45 left before Maryland's Katie Doolittle cut the lead back to two just over two minutes later.

Leading 5-2, Maryland notched consecutive goals by Lauren Cohen and Krista Pellizzi to cut the lead to 5-4 with 12 minutes remaining in the half. But two more goals by Frank and Bowen gave NU a three-point cushion until UM scored the final goal of the half from Casey Major to keep the Terrapins within striking distance at halftime, 7-5.

And Maryland wasted little time at the start of the second half as Dobbie's second goal of the game cut Northwestern's lead to 7-6, leaving the Wildcat faithful feeling a bit uneasy.

Enter Kjellman, who always seems to rise to the occasion when her team needs the big play.

Just over four minutes later, the senior All-American notched two goals in the span of :20 seconds--the second of which left two Maryland defenders spinning--as Northwestern regained control 9-6 with 25:32 remaining.

"Those goals were key," Amonte Hiller added. "Time and time again, when we've needed something, she has done it for us.

"Kristen took the game over today. She did everything out there. Whether it was ground balls, draw controls, goals, assists ... she did it all and played her heart out. That's why she was player of the year last season."

The game stayed at 9-6 over the next 13-plus minutes until the Wildcats added a few insurance goals from Nielsen (11:37), Bowen (9:17) and Josephs (6:46) to take a 12-6 lead late in the game.

Maryland never threatened after Kjellman's two goals and managed just two scores in the final 30 minutes.

The Wildcats will try and keep the momentum going this Friday when they take on No. 14 Johns Hopkins in a key ALC showdown in Baltimore, Md.

Game Notes: Maryland was the sixth top 10 opponent the Wildcats have faced this season ... NU has now won 11 in a row and 27-straight home games dating to 2004 ... Nielsen now has 35 assists on the season, good for third on NU's all-time single-season list ... Meredith Frank has now recorded at least one point in 33-straight games -- every game of her career ... The Wildcats are 52-2 in the past two-plus seasons and 66-4 in their last 70 games ... The 14 saves by Lathrop was one shy of her career-best.