Stick Season, Week 12: Conference champs, part two

This time, winning the Big Ten wasn’t as easy.

Welcome back to Stick Season! I hope everyone’s heart rates have recovered from the Big Ten tournament. In this week’s column, we’ll be talking about Northwestern’s nail-biting 14-13 win over No. 8 Hopkins in the semifinal and an even more intense 8-7 finals victory over No. 6 Maryland, en route to the Wildcats winning their third consecutive and record-breaking fifth overall Big Ten tournament.

Northwestern’s Big Ten regular season and tournament championships were a tale of the two teams.

The version of Northwestern that won the regular season, which I talked about last week, beat everyone in its conference handily. It developed a resume that included a 16-4 beatdown of Maryland and a similar 17-5 showing versus Johns Hopkins. Throughout the regular season, there was no question that the Wildcats would rule above all else.

But just five days after its regular season ended, an entirely different version of Northwestern showed up at the Big Ten tournament. This Northwestern team had to fight tooth and nail to win each of its games against the same teams it beat handily earlier in the season. It endured bad turnovers, mind-boggling physicality and 8-for-41 shooting days to come out on top by the narrowest margins.

And yet, both Northwestern teams emerged with the same trophy.

The contrast in which Northwestern won its conference regular season and tournament titles exemplifies two things we already know: that it’s difficult to play the same team twice, and that a successful team can win in different ways. With the NCAA tournament coming up, these takeaways are all the more important.

USA Lacrosse Magazine has No. 11 Michigan as a potential second-round opponent for Northwestern in its last four bracket projections, a matchup that feels highly likely given Ann Arbor’s geographic proximity to Evanston. The Wildcats defeated the Wolverines 15-6 in the regular season, but as the Big Ten tournament and previous seasons proved (see 2023, when Northwestern played Michigan three times and each match got progressively closer), a rematch with Hannah Nielsen’s squad could be trickier. In addition, with Maryland ranked No. 6, it could be a team that Northwestern has to beat to return to the Final Four.

The Big Ten tournament proved how much things can change when rematches happen and the stakes are higher. Lessons from that competition must be taken into the NCAA tournament, when stakes are at their absolute peak.

Late game clutch factor

Earlier, I praised Northwestern for being able to play close games. Those games would not have been won if the ‘Cats weren’t out-of-this-world clutch in the final five minutes

Against Hopkins, Northwestern was at an inflection point when the Blue Jays scored three straight, cutting its lead and making the score 15-14 with 6:42 left to play. Hopkins could have tied things up on the next possession with a draw win, but senior Sam Smith checked Hopkins’ Laurel Gonzalez’s stick, enabling senior Emerson Bohlig to pick up the ground ball for Northwestern. That led to the goal crafted by junior Lucy Munro and sophomore Taylor Lapointe which gave the ‘Cats some more breathing room.

Charlotte Smith scored for Hopkins with 4:00 left, but Northwestern didn’t let up for the rest of the game. Wildcat graduate student goalkeeper Delaney Sweitzer saved the last two shots she faced. When the Blue Jays had the ball with 1:42 left, the Northwestern one-on-one coverage didn’t let them go inside, forcing them into a shot clock violation that allowed NU to run the clock out.

Big plays by Northwestern also got it out of the Maryland match. When Kori Edmondson tied the game up 7-7 with 1:04 left, there was a path to Terrapin victory. However, the Wildcats won the next draw, setting up Bohlig’s feed to a cutting freshman Aditi Foster for her game-winner. And on the final play of the game, when Edmondson had another shot a free position goal, eventual tournament MVP and graduate student defender Jane Hansen placed a perfectly timed check to stop Maryland from scoring as the clock ran out.

In close, late-game situations like what Northwestern was in during both of its Big Ten tournament games, one small move can change the entire result. Because the Wildcats did almost all the right things, it came out on top not once but twice.

Foul Trouble

Of course, in such an up and down tournament for Northwestern, we have to talk about the good and the bad. In my gamer after the title game, I discussed the team’s offensive deficiencies, which were a big part of its performance against Maryland. However, another glaring issue across both matches was the sheer amount of foul trouble that the Wildcats found themselves in.

Yes, both games were very whistle-happy, causing several delays in play due to reviews (including an embellishment call made on Maryland’s Maddy Sterling). However, the Wildcats justifiably bore the brunt of many calls during the Big Ten tournament.

First off, Northwestern committed a whopping 32 fouls against Maryland. Freshman defender Mary Carroll had ten fouls by herself alone, while both Hansen, and defender Jane Hansen had five. By comparison, the Terrapins only had 19 fouls of their own. In addition, seven of the 11 total card penalties were given to Northwestern, giving the Terps a full 11 minutes of player-up opportunities.

Those opportunities clearly had an impact on the scoring, given that Maryland scored five of its seven goals off free-position shots and had two player-up goals.

NU was less foul-happy against Hopkins, only committing 19. However, it still racked up five cards, with the Blue Jays scoring on four of the player ups resulting from those cards. In addition, they also nabbed four additional free position goals, meaning that over half of their 15 goals came as a result of Wildcat fouls.

Beyond being a player down and conceding eight-meter shots, foul trouble can also take out important players in critical moments. Because Taylor was ejected against Maryland for getting her second yellow card via a dangerous follow-through, Northwestern was without its top offensive player on the field during its most important possession. Yes, things worked out thanks to Bohlig and Foster. But if Edmondson converted her final free-position shot and the game went into overtime, Taylor’s absence could have been a lot more detrimental.

Similarly, White received a green and yellow card within a minute of each other during the fourth quarter against Hopkins, taking her out during the stretch where the Blue Jays went on their three-goal run. Had that green card been a yellow card, it could have hurt Northwestern significantly if White wasn’t playing during its final few defensive stands.

Yes, fouls are a part of the game and Northwestern has always been a physical team. However, the physicality got to a point where it was significantly affecting the team’s results during the Big Ten tournament, and it must be curbed in future games.

Weekly Awards

Player of the week: Jane Hansen, graduate student defender — We’re going to have to go with the consensus here and pick the MVP, who is getting her well-deserved moment of recognition after years of holding it down on defense. Hansen combined for three ground balls and five caused turnovers across two games, including a game-winning check which I’m going to post once more (but this time in slow-motion — scroll to the second-to-last slide).

Play of the week: Everyone will talk about freshman Aditi Foster’s game-winner, but I’ll go with her first goal against Maryland that started it all — the one that broke a near-20-minute scoring drought for Northwestern and started the team’s comeback. There was no hesitation behind this shot, she just went for broke.

What’s Next?

Northwestern awaits its fate in the NCAA tournament on May 4 at 8 p.m. CDT when the official bracket will be revealed. However, it’s practically locked in to receive the No. 3 overall seed and therefore a first-round bye, meaning it likely begins tournament play on May 11 at home in the second round.

Because there are no games this week, there won’t be a column next week. However, stay tuned because Inside NU will have plenty of content previewing the NCAA tournament in the coming days!