April 27--It was like old times for the Northwestern women's lacrosse team.
And that couldn't have happened at a better time in this rollercoaster season for the Wildcats.
In the regular-season finale, No. 9 Northwestern took it to No. 20 Ohio State early and never let up in a 16-6 win Saturday afternoon at Lakeside Field.
That is what the Wildcats (11-5, 3-2 Big Ten) always had done in the past against good but clearly outclassed opponents on their way to seven NCAA titles.
"It felt the way it used to," Northwestern coach Kelly Amonte Hiller said.
The win gave her team the No. 3 seed in next week's inaugural Big Ten tournament at Rutgers. The Wildcats will open Thursday against No. 6 seed Michigan, whom Northwestern beat 17-8 April 2.
The Buckeyes (11-6, 2-3) got the 4th seed and an opening game against Rutgers.
Maryland, the top-ranked team in the country, and Penn State have first-round byes as the top two seeds. Northwestern almost certainly must make the final to have a shot at at least one home game in the NCAA tournament.
After four straight one-goal games against Ohio State (three wins and an overtime loss) in the previous three seasons, Northwestern rolled to a 7-1 lead Saturday and increased that to 15-3 late in the second half.
"It wasn't perfect, but it was a big step forward," Amonte Hiller said.
Two losses in the last three games led Wildcat assistant coaches Tim McCormack and Scott Hiller to switch the defensive game plan from the usual pressure zone, with frequent double teams, to a man-to-man.
Opponents had been beating the double teams for easy goals.
"We decided it would be better to try to let the other team make mistakes instead of pressing to cause them," Scott Hiller said.
The result was allowing just three goals until the final three minutes of the game, when Ohio State's starters were matched against the Northwestern reserves.
Freshman Ally Mueller played a big part in stifling the Buckeyes' offense with her faceguard defending of Jackie Cifarelli, who came into the game second in Division I assists-per-game. Cifarelli had no assists and no goals.
Five Wildcats had two or more goals, led by hat tricks from Kara Mupo and Sheila Nesselbush, and Corinne Wessels produced two goals and three assists.
Freshman Selena Lasota, who has scored two or more goals in every game this season and is fourth nationally in goals-per-game, brought her season total to 56 with one in each half.
