Between 2005 and 2012, the Northwestern women’s lacrosse team won seven NCAA Division I titles and could have had an eighth but for losing a 6-0 lead that the team had built in the first nine minutes of play of the 2010 final.
Since 2012, Northwestern has been an elite team with elite players, but did not win a national title.
A handful of different circumstances hampered Northwestern in the last 10 years, including the fact that the game has grown significantly and there are more universities from which elite lacrosse players can choose. Stony Brook and Notre Dame were amongst the teams to end Northwestern’s season in the last decade.
And there was also last year’s seeming collapse on the past of Northwestern in a national semifinal against North Carolina. Northwestern had a seven-goal lead on UNC with 10 minutes to go, but Sam Geiersbach, a player UNC picked up in the transfer portal, went off. She had the last four goals for the Heels including the go-ahead goal with 1:03 left in regulation.
But Northwestern had a couple of final chances in the final minute of play. A couple of UNC turnovers against the high-pressure line of Northwestern led to a pair of open shots on goalie Taylor Moreno. The shots did not fall, Northwestern was eliminated, and UNC won the national final two days later.
These experiences, and more, were catalysts for the Wildcats during the team’s Final Four run, culminating in yesterday’s 18-6 win over Boston College in the 2023 title game.
Here’s what we think was the formula for Northwestern’s re-ascendancy:
1. Know your team and game-plan for the opponent. As impressive as they have been since Kelly Amonte-Hiller revived the program at the school two decades ago, this team did something which I think was unheard of. The Cats out-defended a defensive-minded Denver side in their 15-7 win in the semifinal round, then out-attacked one of the nation’s leading team goal scorers in Boston College.
2. You never know where your best player will come from. In the past, Northwestern was able to find great athletes from non-traditional areas, and even found the Koester twins from the school’s rugby program. Izzy Scane, from Michigan, was her usual excellent self with four goals, but the Most Outstanding Player was defensive midfielder Samantha White, who played her scholastic ball in public school in Baltimore County.
3. The transfer portal. Hailey Rhatigan, a transfer from Mercer University, had three goals. And in the back stood Molly Laliberty, who was a transfer from Division III Tufts. I’ve always known that there were good players who had fallen through the recruiting cracks into Division II and III, but this is the first time that I’ve seen a key player help steer a team to a national title at the Division I level.
4. Discipline. Boston College was yellow-carded five times during the game, leading to two Northwestern power-play goals. The Wildcats didn’t receive a single penalty card all game.
5. Value the ball. In an on-field interview, BC head coach Acacia Walker-Weinstein mentioned the need to cut down on turnovers. Oddly enough, the official box score had the overall turnovers the same, at 21-19 for the Eagles. It was just that it seemed Boston College’s turnovers led to either goals or free-position chances.
6. Belief. A big part of Northwestern’s mental makeup in the 2000s was the “us against the world” mentality. From the coaching staff on down, the team took any word, any slight, any gesture as fuel for further domination. “We said at the beginning of the fall, ‘The most important thing is going to be believing,’” coach Kelly Amonte Hiller said after the game. “We gotta believe, and I think it showed out there today.” It certainly was a return to the mentality that allowed Northwestern to dominate the world if Division I women’s lacrosse.
