April 16, 2007
Box Score
EVANSTON, Ill. - The Northwestern defense held Maryland to just two second half goals, including a stretch of 23:02, as the No. 1 Wildcats defeated the No. 2 Terrapins, 12-7, on Monday in a game between the nation's top teams. The loss was the first for the Terps (13-2) in the last nine games while Northwestern (11-1) improved its winning streak to 11 games.
Juniors Dana Dobbie and Lauren Cohen both scored a pair of goals in the win while senior Krista Pellizzi added a goal and an assist. She also secured four draw controls.
Northwestern goalie Morgan Lathrop was huge for the Wildcats in the first four minutes as she handled Maryland's high-powered offense by saving four shots, including two free positions, as NU jumped out to a 3-0 lead. Three different goal scorers paced the run, capped by a goal when Hannah Nielsen found Meredith Frank from behind the cage for the third goal at 22:56.
Exactly a minute later, junior Katie Princiotto was awarded a free position as she was fouled on the attack. Her shot sailed high, but Dobbie caught the errant shot and wrapped a shot around from the right side into the back of the net to make it 3-1.
Frank scored an unassisted goal just over a minute later and then senior Katie Doolittle scored one of her own to make it 4-2. Hilary Bowen notched a goal after the ensuing draw to extend the Wildcats lead to 5-2 at the 17:43 mark. The Terps responded nine seconds later after Dobbie won the draw. Dobbie found an open Pellizzi down the middle of the field, who connected with Cohen streaking down the right side for a goal to cut the lead to 5-3 with 17:34 left in the half.
Pellizzi converted a free position opportunity five minutes later to get the Terps within one with 12:11 left in the half. Junior Allie Buote made a huge save prior to that as she stopped a point-blank shot that would have pushed the Northwestern lead back to two.
The Wildcats scored a pair of goals less than two minutes apart to pull away again, 7-4, with 5:39 left. Frank scored her third goal of the half at 5:39 as Kjellman passed up on a free position shot and found her wide open in front of the goal on the left side. Bowen capped the Wildcats' scoring in the half with an unassisted score.
Maryland was able to cut into the lead before the end of the half as junior Kelly Kasper picked up a loose ball in the fan after a free position chance. Kasper found an open Casey Magor in front of the net who beat the goalie to make it 7-5 at the break.
Maryland quickly cut the lead to one again when Dobbie fired a shot underneath the Wildcat goalie just 31 seconds into the second half, but the top-ranked Northwestern defense clamped down the rest of the way and shut down the Terps.
Kjellman jump started the five-goal run with a pair of goals just 20 seconds apart. The Wildcats added three more goals, all from different scorers, to put the game away as they took a 12-6 advantage. The Northwestern defense stifled Maryland's attack, holding it scoreless for a span of 23:02.
Lathrop handled the Terps attack as she was credited with 14 saves. Kjellman and Frank both had three goals and an assist while Bowen also recorded a hat trick for the Wildcats.
