W. Lax | No Wild surpise here

Updated May 22, 11:55 a.m.

Who else would it be?

Yet again Penn is about to enter a key women's lacrosse game and standing directly in its path is Northwestern.

Facing each other for the third-straight year on the final weekend of the postseason, the No. 4 Quakers (15-2) will play the No. 1 Wildcats (21-0) today in the first national semifinal in Towson, Md., at 6 p.m. The winner will face No. 2 Maryland or No. 3 North Carolina in the NCAA Championship game Sunday. Northwestern has won the last four championships.

History hasn't been on the Quakers' side in this matchup, as they are 1-6 versus Northwestern in the last five seasons, including a 12-2 beat down two years ago in the Final Four at Franklin Field. Though it finally beat the Wildcats, 11-7, at home last season, Penn followed that up with a 10-6 loss in last year's championship game. The most recent game was an 11-9 NU win in Evanston, Ill., April 25 that saw the Wildcats break open a 7-7 game in the final 17 minutes with a 4-0 run.

"You never want to lose, but also you learn from that game . what you did defensively and what you did not do well and you figure out how to fix it," Penn coach Karin Brower said. "So it's nice to play them a second time after learning what you need to do better from that last game."

Specifically, Brower and the Quakers believe that holding onto the ball is the key. In the Evanston matchup, the Wildcats won seven out of 10 second-half draws to pull away.

"This game is going to come down to possession," Quakers senior Kaitlyn Lombardo said.

Despite the loss four weeks ago, after last year's win at home Penn still has faith they can topple the Wildcats, who have gone an incredible 83-3 in the last four seasons.

"Thinking about this year motivates us to redeem the way we played," Lombardo said. "But it's also important to think about last year since we have the confidence to know that we can beat them."

Perhaps the biggest difference between the April loss and today's game will be the return of Hilary Bowen for Northwestern. The senior star missed over a month of games - including the first Penn matchup - with an anterior cruciate ligament injury, but returned in last week's 16-9 win over Princeton. However, it's unclear at exactly what level she'll be ready to go today.

"It's hard to quantify it, but she's doing great" Northwestern coach Kelly Amonte-Hiller said in a teleconference with the Final Four coaches Tuesday. "We're looking forward to her continuing to make an impact throughout the weekend."

Amonte-Hiller described her as day-to-day but thought that she would be ready for today's game.

Regardless of who is or isn't playing, this game has quickly become the top ticket in women's lacrosse. With five previous matchups in the last two plus seasons, including of course the Final Four two years ago and last year's revenge win in the National Championship for Northwestern, these two teams are developing quite the rivalry.

"I think it's a great rivalry," Amonte-Hiller said. "We've played each other competitively. We've each beaten each other and you know it should be a great competition . hopefully great to watch."

With so much on the line in such a heated rivalry, a win here - besides ending the dominant run of national championships for the Wildcats - would be the ultimate prize for the Penn seniors, who at 58-12 are currently the winningest Penn class.

"It'd be really awesome to go out on top," Lombardo said.

Although Penn technically has to win two games this Memorial Day weekend to do so, it's forgivable if the Northwestern game feels like the only one that matters. For the Quakers, this game simply has been their Super Bowl for the last few years.

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