Rainin' cats on W. Lax

EVANSTON, Ill., April 25 - On a cold, wet and windy day, the Penn women's lacrosse ship was sunk by a familiar storm on the shores of Lake Michigan.

The No. 3 Quakers traveled to face fellow undefeated No. 1 Northwestern Saturday in a battle of two of three remaining unbeatens in Division I.

Although they led, 6-5, at halftime - which was the first time all season the Wildcats trailed at the break - the Quakers fell to Northwestern, 11-9.

It was the second-straight time that Penn (13-1) fell to the Wildcats, following up a 10-6 loss in last year's NCAA final. In fact, of Penn's five losses since the 2007 season began, four have been to Northwestern.

"This was a really big win for us," Northwestern coach Kelly Amonte Hiller said. "I think we had some players step up tonight and it's a nice win to get."

Despite an hour-long rain delay before the opening draw, Northwestern (17-0) came out on fire. Three different Wildcats scored within the first ten minutes, and it looked like they could wipe the field dry with Penn like they did in the 2007 Final Four.

"We were really able to take the wind out of their sails right off the bat," Amonte Hiller said.

But then Penn came storming back. Ten minutes later, the Quakers found themselves up 5-3 as senior Kaitlyn Lombardo notched two unassisted goals to lead a 5-0 Penn run. Junior Emma Spiro, who led Penn with three goals on the day, also scored in that stretch.

The half ended with Penn ahead by one, and the start of the second half was mostly even. With just over 17 minutes left in the game, the score was tied at seven, and it looked like this game would come down to the wire.

But then Hannah Nielsen took over.

The senior attack from Adelaide, Australia, led the 'Cats with two goals and an assist in the next 10 minutes as Northwestern pulled ahead. Overall, Nielsen had a game-high seven points on four goals and three assists. In addition, she broke the 200-assist mark for her career.

"She went on a run, but I know we can shut her down next time," Penn senior defense Katie Mazer said of potentially facing Nielsen again in the NCAA tournament next month.

While Nielsen's performance certainly hurt Penn, coach Karin Brower pointed to one critical stat when asked about the game: time of possession.

"I felt like when we did have the ball, we could put it in the net," she said. "We needed to have the ball a lot more to win that game."

Northwestern dominated possession in the second half, as epitomized by their 7-3 draw control advantage in that period.

In fact, draw controls nearly perfectly mirrored the score. In the first half Penn had a 7-5 margin in draws, but in the end lost the battle 12-10.

"It was crucial to have the ball in this game," Nielsen said, "so the draw controls in the second half were really important."

The 11 goals were the most Penn had given up this year, as it came in leading the nation with a 4.81 goals against average. Mazer thought that with the team focusing on cracking Northwestern's tough, aggressive defense in practice this past week, maybe Penn's own defense "suffered" a little.

Regardless, it was Northwestern who kept its impressive streak alive at the expense of Penn's. Coming into the game the Quakers had won a program record 13-straight games.

While shattering that run, Northwestern improved its home winning streak to 52 games and won its 23rd-straight contest overall.

The last time Northwestern lost? On a sunny day in Philadelphia to a team called the Quakers exactly 52 weeks ago.

What a difference a year makes.

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