EVANSTON, Ill. — On an absolute gorgeous day along the lakefront, No. 1 Northwestern took down Hofstra 16-4 Sunday afternoon on senior day in Evanston. The win improved the Wildcats, winners of 15-straight, to 15-1 while Hofstra falls to 10-6.

Senior Kristen Kjellman tied a season high with six goals and Hannah Nielsen recorded seven assists for the second-straight game — tying the NU single-game record — as the Wildcats end the regular season at 15-1.

Kjellman, who has scored 21 goals in the last five games, now owns the Northwestern record with 234 career goals. She tied the record on Friday against Ohio State and it took her 2:45 to score her first goal today to own the record outright. She scored five goals in the first 12:32 and the first goal of the second half — her 50th of the season.

Hofstra kept things interesting in the first half as its speed on attack enabled them to score three first-half goals in the first 10 minutes. Becky Thorn’s free-position goal made it 3-2 NU early on and later Kimberly Hillier’s unassisted goal cut the lead to 5-3 with 19:51 left. Northwestern goalkeeper Morgan Lathrop kept the Pride at bay with nine first-half saves.

But after Hofstra’s third goal, the Wildcats scored 11-straight and held the Pride scoreless until :18 seconds left in the game — a drought of more than 48 minutes.

Nielsen, who also had two goals, has dished out 14 assists in the last two games and with 52 total on the season, is two away from tying the Northwestern single-season record of 54, set by current assistant coach Lindsey Munday in 2005.

Also scoring for the Wildcats were Meredith Frank (3), Hilary Bowen (1g, 3a), Danielle Spencer (1g, 1a), Ali Jacobs (1g, 1a), Casey Donohoe (1g, 1a) and Aly Josephs. Kjellman also led the ’Cats with five draw controls

The Wildcats received a bye into the semifinals of the 2007 ALC Tournament on Friday and will await the winner of the Thursday opening-round match between No. 4 Ohio State and No. 5 Penn State. No. 2-seed Vanderbilt will take on third-seeded Johns Hopkins Friday in the other semifinal match.

The eight seniors honored prior to the game were manager Andrea Doherty, Hannah Whitman, Emily Lovett, Kristen Boege, Annie Elliott, Lindsay Finocchiaro, Josephs and Kjellman.

Other Notes: NU has now won 15 in a row and 30-straight at home dating to 2004 … The Wildcats are 56-2 since the start of the 2005 season … Kristen Kjellman now has 328 total points in her Wildcat career and today became the only Wildcat in school history to score 50 or more goals four-straight seasons … The Wildcats are outscoring opponents 150-45 in the first half of games this season.

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Evanston, IL -- Senior attacker Becky Thorn scored a team-high two goals, but Hofstra couldn't overcome a 50-plus minute scoring drought in the contest as they fell, 16-4, to number one ranked Northwestern at the Thomas Athletic Complex on Sunday afternoon. Hofstra falls to 10-6 with the loss, while the top-ranked Wildcats improved to 15-1 with the victory.

The Pride will head into next week's Colonial Athletic Association Championship as the host and top-seed and will face fourth-seeded Old Dominion on Friday at 5 p.m. James Madison and Delaware will meet at 7:30 p.m. in the other semifinal. All games during the CAA Tournament will take place at James M. Shuart Stadium, located on the south campus of Hofstra University.

Hofstra battled with the nation's best team in the opening minutes of the contest as the Pride trailed just 2-1 after Thorn's first goal of the contest at the 24:17 mark and was within 5-3 when senior attacker Kimberly Hillier scored an unassisted tally with 19:51 left in the opening half.

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2007-04-29