Women's Lacrosse: Princeton takes on NCAA No. 1

The Wildcats enter tomorrow’s quarterfinal contest against Princeton (14-3) on a 26-game winning streak — one that includes their 23-6 thrashing of UMass last weekend in the opening round of the NCAA tournament — dating all the way back to last season.

One of the victories in that streak was an 18-11 ousting of the Tigers last year in the quarterfinal round at Evanston, Ill. That experience last year should help Princeton cope with Northwestern’s tremendous talent as well as its hostile home arena.

“We have a lot of experience in the tournament now, and having lost to Northwestern last year, we have a lot of revenge that is motivating us,” senior midfielder Kristin Schwab said. “Having played them last year is going to really benefit us going into the game on Saturday.”

The teams have actually met three times over the course of their storied programs. The Wildcats lead the series 2-1. The Tigers took the first meeting 6-4 back in 1990 in a regular-season tournament.

The second meeting took place in Evanston as well, in 2005. Princeton fell 8-6 in a tough quarterfinals match.

The Wildcats sport an 82-3 record over the last four years of play. Even more impressively, that success has translated smoothly to the postseason: Northwestern has walked away with the last four NCAA championships.

Pacing the Wildcats is an extremely impressive trio of midfielders. Leading the team in points is the 2008 Tewaaraton Trophy winner, midfielder Hannah Nielson. Nielson has racked up 59 goals and 69 assists this season for a total of 128 points.

Flanking Nielson are midfielders Danielle Spencer and Katrina Dowd. Spencer has recorded 54 goals and 18 assists. Dowd leads the team with 60 goals on the season to go with her 11 assists.

To put those startling numbers in comparison (though the Tigers have played three fewer games this season), senior midfielder and tri-captain Holly McGarvie — a 2009 Tewaaraton nominee — has the highest point total of any Tiger with 55. She’s found the net 35 times this season and dished for scores 20 times.

Goalie Morgan Lathrop backstops the Northwestern defense and has stopped 50.7 percent of shots on her goal. As a team, the Wildcats average 17.85 goals per game while allowing a mere 6.50.

Though Northwestern boasts an unbeaten record this season, the Tigers still have a legitimate reason to believe it can be upended. Both Virginia and Penn — two opponents the Tigers have played this season, beating the Cavaliers and losing to the Quakers — played the Wildcats very tightly this season. Northwestern squeaked out 11-10 and 11-9 victories, respectively, so it hasn’t looked completely invulnerable — just close to it.

There really isn’t a weakness for Princeton to exploit against the Wildcats. Northwestern has had 31 players touch the turf this year, so it has incredible depth. Eighteen players have started for the team.

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If Princeton wants to pull off the upset, however, it will almost certainly need to neutralize the Wildcats’ amazing faceoff advantage. Northwestern has won 65 percent of its faceoff opportunities this season. The last thing the Tigers can afford is extensive times of possession by an all-too-talented offensive team.

Fortunately, Princeton has proven to be adept at forcing turnovers this season, with an average of 12 per game.

Princeton will also need a strong performance from its rock in net, sophomore goalie Erin Tochihara. Tochihara, who has also been nominated for the 2009 Tewaaraton Trophy, has excelled this season. She has stopped 53.7 percent of the shots that came her way en route to a 7.91 goals-against average.

If the Tigers can keep the time of possession relatively even, force some turnovers and cash in on a solid performance by Tochihara, then they could have a chance. At that point, the team will have to look to its battle-tested veterans — McGarvie, Schwab, senior midfielder and tri-captain Katie Cox, and senior attack Christine Casaceli — to come through in a big way.

Sophomore attack Lizzy Drumm also figures to be a large factor. Schwab leads the team with 44 goals on the season, but Drumm is nipping at her heels with 42.

Princeton has nine different players with double-digit points this season. For the Tigers to pull off the upset of the season, they’ll need a complete team effort.

“There is not a person in the U.S. outside of this locker room who probably thinks we can beat Northwestern,” head coach Chris Sailer said following last week’s victory over Georgetown. “But that really doesn’t matter. We just need one day to be able to beat them and to put together a great 60 minutes. Clearly they are a tough opponent, but I’ve got a great team here: experienced kids, a lot of seniors ... We are going to go for it.”

Though the game is in Evanston, fans can watch streaming video for free on the team’s website. The game will kick off at 2 p.m.