April 20--When the final horn sounded in Sunday afternoon's Northwestern-Penn State women's lacrosse game at Lakeside Field, the Nittany Lions celebrated a 14-10 victory as if they had just won the national championship.
For Northwestern lacrosse coach Kelly Amonte Hiller, that kind of scene has become all too familiar.
"I have seen that about five times this year," Amonte Hiller said. "They're beating not just us but the history of our program."
That history has included seven NCAA titles in the past ten seasons and ten straight Final Four appearances.
The Final Four run is going to be much harder to continue after the Wildcats' 12-year, 18-game win streak against Penn State ended.
The loss dropped Northwestern to 10-5 overall and 2-2 in the Big Ten, and it and started a domino effect.
The Wildcats must win Saturday's regular-season finale against Ohio State in Evanston to get the third seed in the Big Ten tournament. They likely need that seed to avoid playing unbeaten, No. 1 Maryland in the tourney semis.
Avoiding Maryland at that point is important because Northwestern also likely needs to reach the Big Ten title game to have a shot at home-field advantage for at least one round of the NCAA tournament.
"Ohio State always plays us tough," Amonte Hiller said. "We need to beat them, big time."
No. 12 Penn State (12-3, 4-0) took advantage of the Wildcats' toothless defense, both in transition and near the net, to build a 10-4 halftime lead.
"We weren't ready to play," Amonte Hiller said.
Northwestern ran four straight goals after intermission and had a possession to cut the margin to 10-9, but a turnover killed that chance -- and the comeback. Penn State countered with a four-goal run to put the game away.
Penn State meets Maryland (14-0, 4-0) Thursday, with the first Big Ten regular-season title at stake.
The Nittany Lions did an excellent job keeping the ball away from Wildcat freshman Selena Lasota, who went into the game fourth nationally in goals per game (3.7). Lasota managed two goals but the face-guarding defense of Natalie Schmitt limited her to just four shots, one after a foul.
Kaleigh Craig matched her single-game career high with four goals for Northwestern.
This is the second straight Wildcat regular season with five losses after a nine-year stretch in which they lost 10 regular-season games combined. This year's struggles are less surprising for a team with five freshmen starters.
"We do have potential," Amonte Hiller said. "The question is whether we can reach it."
