Just one step short of glory.
2025 was a heartbreaking year for Northwestern — a year where everything seemed to be going right at one point. Yes, the team did have two non-conference losses in the regular season, one of them resulting from a blown lead, but the ‘Cats dominated the rest of their ranked foes. In the regular season, their closest ranked win was a 13-10 victory over No. 11 Notre Dame in February.
It was the first game of the season.
Delaney Sweitzer hadn’t even made her season debut yet.
Insanity.
Then in the Big Ten Tournament, Northwestern was dragged into unfamiliar territory in a nail-biter of a semifinal against Johns Hopkins. However, the team showed the wherewithal to stay composed under pressure, fending them off in the final four minutes to advance to the championship.
This is where things began to get treacherous.
The ‘Cats were held to their lowest total in a half up to that point: two goals.
Fast forward to the 7:30 point in the third, and the Terps added one more to give themselves a four goal lead.
Northwestern looked finished. Done. Dead in the water.
That was before they score five unanswered goals of their own.
Now inside 90 seconds, all the ‘Cats had to do was make Sweitzer’s life easy and keep the ball away from the fan. Unfortunately for them, the ball found Kori Edmondson’s stick — an attacker who’d been terrorizing NU all afternoon, and she continued to do so by tying the game with just over a minute left in regulation.
No need to fear, ‘Cats faithful. Sam Smith won the draw, and in the team’s last offensive possession, Aditi Foster snuck through the back door to catch a pass from Emerson Bohlig, bury it, and bring more Big Ten hardware back to Evanston.
NU rode the ‘Cats express back to campus and didn’t have to go far for the NCAA Regionals. They’d host Michigan by the lakefront in the second round of the tournament and send them back to Ann Arbor following a 15-7 win.
Later that week, Anna Brandt and Penn hiked over to Chicago to repeat what they did just four days before: beat a host school in their own backyard. They’d come close to doing so, nearly erasing a five goal deficit in the third quarter, but a Jane Hansen led defense proved too much for the Quakers.
Then it was off to Foxborough to take on the ghost of Christmas past in Boston College.
BC handed NU its first regular season loss inside Ryan Fieldhouse in a game where Madison Taylor was completely shut down. In the Final Four, it was quite the opposite.
Taylor notched a game-high four goals and led an improbable comeback in the fourth quarter, scoring two goals in a 6-0 run to pull a 12-11 win right out of the fire.
However, coming to toss the ‘Cats right back in that fire were Chloe Humphrey and the UNC Tar Heels — Northwestern’s only other loss in the regular season.
Unlike Boston College, North Carolina proved to be the one program Northwestern couldn’t beat. Much like Maryland, they held NU to a two goal first half total. Unlike the Terps, they would finish the job in the second half, outpacing the ‘Cats 7-6 in goal scoring, to lock down the 12-8 victory.
The year of almost.
Almost a perfect season, where NU came a game short of defeating every program it faced in 2025.
Almost the greatest offensive season of all time from Madison Taylor, finishing with 109 goals, smashing Abby Hornes previous NCAA record. All that was missing was the Tewaaraton, but she’d be edged out by Humphrey when it was all said and done.
Almost a hallmark season in Kelly Amonte Hiller’s illustrious career. One last win would’ve made 2025 the sixth season in which Hiller went perfect in conference play, won the conference championship, and won the national championship all in succession.
Almost a coming of age for Delaney Sweitzer, who longed to play in the National Championship her entire collegiate career, but was always denied by Boston College. Once she finally had the chance to do so, she posted the best performance of her entire college career, only to fall short in her one and only chance to be etched in lacrosse history as a national champion.
Almost, almost, almost.
A historic team that came one game short of immortality.