Stick Season, Week 15: The grand finale

So long, folks.

Northwestern concluded its 2025 season in Foxborough this past weekend, which means this week’s Stick Season column is the last. The Wildcats pulled off arguably their best win of the year in a 12-11 comeback victory over Boston College before ending their season with a 12-8 loss to North Carolina. I won’t spend too long picking apart both matches, but I wanted to end this column on a proper note.

Northwestern’s long weekend at Gillette Stadium represented the nature of sports.

On Friday, the Wildcats got about as high as one could get in the NCAA semifinals. After convincing everyone that it was over after a goalless third quarter that saw the Boston College lead balloon to five, they managed to score six straight in just over nine minutes. Then, they hung on — amidst a flurry of turnovers and nerve-racking failed clears from both teams — to pull off a miracle upset against Boston College in one of the greatest single-quarter performances in program history. Although the Eagles were the home team in Foxborough, the euphoric energy of the Wildcat faithful radiated in the pouring rain.

But then less than 48 hours later, that same Northwestern team was pummeled defensively by North Carolina in the national championship game. The spacing and movement of Northwestern’s attack was totally stifled, its draw unit rarely got the ball and its star player in Madison Taylor, who, coming off a historic season, was held scoreless for the first time in over two years. Collegiate careers of program greats had to end on sour notes. And despite pulling off such an incredible win to get there, the Wildcats’ season concluded by seeing another team lift up the NCAA championship trophy directly at their expense. For the second year in a row.

With Northwestern’s emotional rollercoaster of a Final Four, I didn’t quite know how to figure out a theme for this week’s column — how am I supposed to tie together two wildly different results, both with massive implications, into one article? But then I realized that’s exactly what sports are about. They drag you into so many places in such a short amount of time, giving you excitement one moment before disappointing you the next.

Sports are about all the moments in between. I think that’s an appropriate way to think about Northwestern this season. The ‘Cats had to reinvent themselves from previous years and constantly prove they still belonged at the top throughout the season. In the Final Four, they faced the two teams that outmatched them on paper and got past one of them. And between it all, they broke a home attendance record and dominated the Big Ten regular season.

I’m not going to lie, it’s not easy to see a team lose a championship in back-to-back years, regardless of whether it was favored. It’s hard to constantly make “despite the loss” statements. But the reality is that this is a Northwestern team that exceeded the expectations set at the start of the season, and for that, much can be celebrated.

Weekly Awards

Player of the week: Delaney Sweitzer, graduate student goalkeeper — Sweitzer left it all out on the line in her last two collegiate games. First, she made the game-winning save with four seconds left against Boston College, preventing the Eagles from forcing overtime after the same team eliminated her from the Final Four during the past two seasons. She then followed up that performance with 17 saves in the national championship game, shattering a Northwestern single-game record. What a way to go out.

Play of the week: Jane Hansen makes an incredible check on UNC’s Chloe Humphrey, the Final Four’s Most Outstanding Player. This is our first “Play of the Week” that’s not a goal, and it’s only fitting that it is coming from Northwestern’s MVP of the backfield.

(Taylor’s behind-the-back pass to Riley Campbell would have won this, but unfortunately that got called off…)

Yearly Awards

Player of the year: Madison Taylor, junior attacker — After earning the POTW award seven different times, there was no doubt that Taylor would win this. She was everything for Northwestern’s offense, leading the team in goals (109) and assists (49) while also contributing 53 draw controls and 29 ground balls for the team. She also etched herself in the NCAA history books by breaking the NCAA single-season Division I goals record and recording the second-most points in history for a single season. No one in the country did as much for her team as Taylor did for Northwestern, and the ‘Cats would be far from what they were this season without her.

Honorable mention(s): Jane Hansen

Rookie of the year: Mary Carroll, defender — This was also an easy pick, going to the only freshman who started every single game. Carroll came into Northwestern as an unranked recruit but made her name known by recording 23 ground balls and 25 caused turnovers on the year, with the latter number ranking third on the team. She especially performed well in Northwestern’s 16-4 win against the then No. 4 Maryland, where she had three ground balls and four caused turnovers in what can be considered her “breakout” game. Her efforts throughout the season earned her a place on the Big Ten All-Freshman Team. With all of her defensive companions graduating, get ready to see a lot more of Carroll next season.

Honorable mention(s): Aditi Foster

Best win: NCAA Semifinals vs. Boston College (May 23) — NU-BC had everything. It continued a rivalry, serving as revenge for Northwestern’s losses to Boston College in last season’s title game and this February. It had an incredible Northwestern comeback. It was an upset against a team, which, alongside North Carolina, was considered untouchable by anyone else in the nation. The Wildcats weren’t supposed to win this match, and yet it did in the most dramatic and incredible fashion. Absolute cinema.

Honorable mention(s): Lacrosse Night in Chicago vs. Michigan (April 17), Regular Season vs. Maryland (March 22)

Play of the year: Aditi Foster’s game-winner vs. Maryland in the Big Ten tournament championship — What a moment for the freshman. With 15 seconds left and the game tied, Emerson Bohlig found a perfectly-positioned Foster, who put the ‘Cats in front to clinch their third consecutive Big Ten tournament championship. It was only fitting that Foster was the one who capped things off, as she broke Northwestern’s over 20-minute scoring drought earlier in the game to help it come back from a 6-2 deficit in the third quarter.

Honorable mention(s): Taylor-to-Smith go-ahead goal in the NCAA semifinals, Lauren Archer’s behind-the-back goal at USC

What’s Next?

All that’s left of the 2025 season is Thursday night’s Tewaaraton award ceremony, where Taylor will be in attendance to see if she wins college lacrosse’s highest honor. After that, it’s time for the offseason.

Much like this season, next season’s Northwestern team will have to discover a new identity, except on a much larger scale. While stalwarts like Hansen, Sammy White, Sam Smith and Emerson Bohlig returned for 2025, Taylor will be the only player on Northwestern’s 2026 roster with significant playing time on the Wildcats’ 2023 NCAA championship squad. In addition, Lucy Munro, Mary Carroll and Jaylen Rosga will be the only returning starters alongside Taylor — though Madison Smith, who started at the beginning of the year but hasn’t played since February 25, could also be part of the equation.

With massive roster turnover and the added pressure of potentially playing the Final Four at home, Northwestern will enter its most challenging season since it first rose back to the sport’s top in 2019 (though I also said that about this season, and look what happened…). But if there’s anyone that I trust to figure things out, it’s Northwestern head coach Kelly Amonte Hiller, who is known to develop players like no other.

All in all, I had a great time writing Stick Season. It was initially an idea I casually floated around before the season, but fully committing to it allowed me to extensively cover a single sports team in a way I’ve never done before. Just know that I truly appreciate anyone who has taken the time to read anything I wrote in this column. Unfortunately, because I will be on journalism residency next spring, I will most likely not renew Stick Season for the 2026 season. But the extensive lacrosse coverage from this site will continue.

That’s all, folks. Enjoy the offseason!