Northwestern Lacrosse Completes Undefeated In-Conference Season

The Wildcats put an exclamation point on their season Saturday.

Northwestern huddles up at Ohio State | Photo: Northwestern Athletics

Northwestern Lacrosse simply refused to lose games against Big Ten opponents this season. The Wildcats won their final contest of the regular season on Saturday at Ohio State, besting the Buckeyes by a score of 20-12. Northwestern finished 8-0 in the conference and will head into the Big Ten Tournament as the favorite.

It was a fairly typical game script on Saturday. NU was solid defensively, and Madison Taylor went out there and put points on the board. When both of those things happen, it tends to result in a win.

Taylor finished with six goals in the game along with three assists, leading the team in both categories. Riley Campbell and Niki Miles each tacked on four goals for the Wildcats. Both players have been providing crucial complementary scoring around Taylor as of late.

Northwestern got off to a good start, scoring six goals in the first and leading 6-3 heading into the second. The game remained competitive for the rest of the first half, and the 'Cats led 10-7 at halftime.

It was the second half when Northwestern really put a stranglehold on the game. Up 12-8, Taylor went on a run of three straight goals to extend the lead to 15-8. The stretch gave her team the cushion it needed, and the Buckeyes never got close again.

The Wildcats won because of Taylor and her fellow goal scorers, but they also won because they dominated in the draw circle. Northwestern out-controlled Ohio State 22-13 on draws with Sam Smith (9) and Sammy White (8) leading the charge.

The Big Ten Tournament starts for Northwestern on Friday, April 25 in College Park, Md. With a perfect conference record, the Wildcats earned the No. 1 seed and will have a bye to the semi-final round. They will face the winner of No. 4 Penn State and No. 5 Johns Hopkins to kick off postseason play.