Setting The Stage
No. 1 NU (20-1) will look to make history once again on Sunday with its third-straight title. The Wildcats defeated fourth seed Penn 12-2 in the semifinals Friday night and will face third seed Virginia (19-3) in Sunday night's championship at Franklin Field in Philadelphia. The Cavaliers stunned second seed Duke in the second semifinal by scoring the game's last 10 goals for a 14-13 win. Sunday's game will be televised live on CSTV and heard on WNUR 89.3 FM.

'Cats Going For 3-Peat
Northwestern will attempt to become just the second women's team in NCAA lacrosse history to win three-straight NCAA championships. It would mark the first three-peat since Maryland won seven-straight titles from 1995-2001. The 'Cats also would be the fourth school to have won three or more titles overall.

Series Information
The Cavaliers lead the all-time series with Northwestern, 5-2. The Wildcats and Cavaliers last met in the 2005 NCAA title game when Northwestern won its first national title, 13-10. Kristen Kjellman had five goals in the game and earned NCAA Championship MVP honors.

Amonte Hiller Tops in NCAA Winning Percentage
Head coach Kelly Amonte Hiller spouts the best all-time winning percentage of any women's coach in the history of the NCAA Championship (minimum 10 games). She has won 92 percent of her games (12-1) and has not lost since the quarterfinals in 2004 to No. 2 seed Virginia. The Wildcats went 1-1 in 2004, 4-0 in '05 and '06 and are 3-0 in 2007.

Kjellman Sets Tournament Record
With three goals in the semifinal win against Penn, Kristen Kjellman set a new NCAA Tournament record with 38 goals, breaking the old mark of 37 set by Jen Adams of Maryland (1998-2001). Kjellman averages 2.9 goals per game in the NCAA Championship, scoring in every game except for last year's final against Dartmouth when she was hobbled by an ankle injury. She has risen to the occasion in the big games, most notably in the 2005 championship game against Virginia when she scored five goals and then in last year's national semifinal when she scored four goals to help NU knock off top-seeded Duke in overtime. She also tallied five goals her freshman season in the 2004 quarterfinal loss to No. 2 seed Virginia--the last time NU lost an NCAA game.

Josephs Not Far Behind
Don't forget about fellow classmate Aly Josephs who has 11 goals in three NCAA championship games this season. That gives her 35 for her career, three behind Kjellman's 38 and putting her in third place overall on the NCAA championship list. Josephs netted a career-high seven in the 2005 opening round win against Mt. Saint Mary's. Last year she scored four of NU's seven goals in the championship game against Dartmouth, earning game MVP honors. Josephs had three each against Holy Cross and Syracuse and a game-high five in Friday night's win.

Multiple Threats
The Wildcats are one of the nation's top scoring teams, due mainly to their multiple threats on attack. Northwestern has five players with 49 or more goals--the only school in th country to accomplish that this season--and are led by Kristen Kjellman's 65. Meredith Frank (59) and Hilary Bowen (56) are right behind Kjellman while Aly Josephs comes in fourth with 50. Hannah Nielsen rounds out the top scorers with 49.

Rewriting the Record Books
Northwestern set a new school record this season with 346 goals, breaking the record of 333 set last season (the NCAA record for goals is 351) and also set the NCAA single-season record with 505 points and counting. They also need six more assists to tie the NCAA record of 165, also set by the Wildcats last year. Further, with 16.4 goals per game, the 'Cats also are lined up to break the NCAA goals per game record of 16.1.

Two Wildcats Among Five Tewaaraton Finalists
The Tewaaraton Award Foundation announced the five finalists for this year's women's Tewaaraton Trophy--the Heisman Trophy of lacrosse. Among them are not one, but two players from Northwestern in senior midfielder Kristen Kjellman--last year's winner--and sophomore attacker Hannah Nielsen. Both players will represent the Wildcats in Washington, D.C., on May 30 for the presentation of the award. Kjellman, a finalist for the third-straight year, leads the nation's top scoring team with 65 goals to compliment 23 assists on the season and has scored 36 goals in the last 10 games.

Nielsen has enjoyed a breakout season, leading the Wildcats with 114 points--a NU single-season record--on 49 goals and a team-high 65 assists--another NU single-season record and one shy of the NCAA mark. The other three finalists are Duke's Caroline Cryer, Maryland's Dana Dobbie and Mary Key from Johns Hopkins.

'Cats' Defense Ranked No. 1
With all the offensive fireworks Northwestern's attack displays, probably the biggest part that gets overlooked is its defense. As of the NCAA stats released May 20, NU currently leads the nation in scoring defense at 5.9 goals per game. Goalkeeper Morgan Lathrop leads in goals-against average (5.74) and in save percentage (.586) while junior Christy Finch is second with 2.8 caused turnovers per game. Northwestern has only allowed one opponent--Notre Dame--to score in double-digits this season with 10 goals. Of the 21 games this year, NU's defense has given up five or fewer goals 10 times. They held No. 8 Syracuse--the nation's top scoring team at the time with 15.8 per game--to seven goals in the regular season, its lowest offensive output of the season and held No. 4 Duke--also more than 15 goals per game coming in--to its lowest offensive output (five goals) since 2005. They held Penn to just two goals in Friday night's semifinal, holding the Quakers scoreless for the first 43:31--the longest scoring drought in NCAA finals history.

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