The Northwestern Wildcats held Penn State off the scoreboard for the first 15 minutes of the first half while Hannah Nielsen had two goals and three assists in that span to post NU to a 7-0 lead; the ‘Cats had a 12-1 lead at halftime and went on to a 19-7 win in the first semifinal of the ALC Tournament. Nielsen closed the day with five assists, giving her 57 for the season, a new single-season record at Northwestern that moves her to the No. 3 spot all-time in Division I women's lacrosse history for a single season. Kristen Kjellman, the ALC Player of the Year, had eight draw controls, all in the first half, and NU enjoyed a 16-12 advantage in that category for the game.

Northwestern jumped out to a quick 2-0 lead behind unassisted goals from Hilary Bowen and Kjellman; both came as the ‘Cats attackers broke Penn State clears and regained possession for Northwestern. A Kjellman draw control led to a Nielsen crease roll for the third goal, 27 seconds after Kjellman. The ‘Cats then scored three goals in a three-minute span as Kjellman won consecutive draws, putting NU up 6-0 less than ten minutes into the game. Christy Finch caused a turnover and got the ground ball, NU got the ball to Kjellman, who flipped it to Frank at the top of the arc while cutting the other way; Frank drove in and scored for the ‘Cats seventh goal.

Penn State got on the board as Amanda Longobucco drove in from the top and scored at 14:54, breaking the drought for the Nittany Lions. The Wildcats answered with a 5-0 run to close the half, starting with a give-and-go between Bowen and Nielsen. Nielsen's assist on the next goal, to Aly Josephs, was the Australian's 55th of the season, which set the NU record for a single-season. Frank then scored consecutive goals, and Kjellman added one with 10 seconds to play in the half for a 12-1 lead at the break.

Penn State started the second half with a pair of goals in the first four minutes as Theresa Bucci assisted Kerry Shea and then converted a pass from Lindsay Dutch. Northwestern answered with a 5-0 run over a 15-minute span, starting with two from Frank.

The Nittany Lions' Lindsey Hagemann scored two consecutive goals to stop the run before NU's Quinn Cammarota scored her first goal of the season. Penn State's Mariel Bryan and Amanda Longobucco scored back-to-back goals before NU's Meghan Plunkett scored her first goal of the season for the final of 19-7.

Northwestern's Christy Finch led all players with four caused turnovers and four ground balls; Kjellman had half of NU's draws (eight) to lead all players.

Northwestern will play host Johns Hopkins game for the ALC title at 1:00 on Sunday, May 6. The winner of the championship game will earn the automatic qualifying berth to the NCAA Championships.

2007-05-04