Northwestern Advances to Big Ten Title Game with Thrilling Victory
Northwestern Lacrosse will be playing on Sunday looking for its third straight Big Ten Tournament championship. In a semi-final matchup with Johns Hopkins today, Northwestern won by the smallest of margins in a 16-15 thriller.
It was the Niki Miles show in College Park, Md. as the graduate student put five goals on the board for the Wildcats. Madison Taylor, the team's leader in goals, tacked on another four. Riley Campbell and Sam Smith also had two apiece.
The 'Cats got off to a hot start, jumping out to a 6-2 lead in the second quarter. But the Blue Jays responded with a run of their own, rattling off three straight goals. The score was 7-6 Wildcats at the half.
In the second half, the game stayed tight. Every time Northwestern put one or two into the net, Johns Hopkins fired right back to keep the game within at least two goals.
As the game came down to the wire, Taylor Lapointe delivered the kill shot for the 'Cats. With 5:54 remaining, she scored the game winning goal and gave Northwestern a commanding 16-14 lead. The Jays got one back, but NU was able to close things out and advance to the title game.
The game was close according to just about every statistic. Northwestern outshot JHU 28-25, but Hopkins led the ground ball battle 15-13. Similarly, the 'Cats led in draw controls but only by an 18-16 margin.
Northwestern will be back in action on Sunday vying for the championship against either Maryland or Michigan. It will then wait to see where it ends up for the NCAA Tournament which will start on May 9.
Read More Northwestern Wildcats Coverage
Ryan Cole is a writer for Northwestern Wildcats On SI covering every team on campus. He’s currently a junior at NU where he’s studying journalism and previously wrote and edited for Inside NU. He also studies business with an eye towards eventually helping develop business models to revive local news. In his free time, Cole enjoys watching sports, playing sports, reading the news and singing.