BALTIMORE, MD - The #1 Northwestern women's lacrosse team used a second half run to pull away from #8 Johns Hopkins in the inaugural American Lacrosse Conference title game Sunday at Homewood Field. The Wildcats (17-1) topped the Blue Jays 22-6 to claim their third straight ALC championship. Hopkins (11-7) will learn its NCAA Tournament fate on Monday night.

Northwestern jumped on Hopkins early, when Meredith Frank scored just 59 seconds in. That started a 10-0 run for the Wildcats over the first 25:28 of the game. Kristen Kjellman scored four during the run for Northwestern. Senior Alex Nolan (Baltimore, MD/Roland Park) finally put the Blue Jays on the board with 2:03 to play in the half. From behind the Wildcats' cage, junior Lauren Schwarzmann (Sykesville, MD/Century) fed Nolan, who fired a shot just inside the right post for her 11th of the season.

The Blue Jays came out firing in the second half, opening up with a 4-0 run to cut the score to 10-5. Junior Kirby Houck (Baltimore, MD/Garrison Forest) got the run going on a free position goal 1:35 in. Just 34 seconds later, Nolan found the twine for the second time, scoring on a restart after a Wildcat foul. Senior Steph Janice (Medford, NJ/Shawnee) scored her 13th of the season at 3:10 on a free position goal. It was then freshman Sam Schrum (Pasadena, MD/St. Mary's) who scored on a feed from fifth-year senior Sarah Walsh (Port Washington, NY/P.D. Schreiber) with 25:01 to play in the game.

The Wildcats responded with seven unanswered over the next 11 minutes, pushing out to a 17-5 lead. Six different Northwestern players scored on the run. Senior Mary Key (Stevensville, MD/St. Mary's) got one back with 8:12 on the clock, scoring on a free position shot for her 62nd of the season. But that would be all the scoring for Hopkins as Northwestern ended the game on a 5-0 run.

Nolan led the Blue Jays with two goals on the day, while Kjellman, Frank and Hannah Nielsen scored five apiece for the Wildcats. Sophomore Amelia Harris (Clifton, VA/J.W. Robinson) finished with one save, while freshman Lizzie O'Ferrall (Baltimore, MD/Mount De Sales) had two saves in relief for Hopkins. For Northwestern, Morgan Lathrop posted nine saves.

The 2007 NCAA Division I Women's Lacrosse Championship bracket will be announced exclusively via a selection show Web cast on ncaasports.com. The bracket will be revealed Monday, May 7, starting at 8 p.m. Eastern time. The selection show can be accessed by visiting ncaasports.com and following the link that will appear on the main page on the day of the selection.

Score by Period       1  2  Tot
-------------------------------
Johns Hopkins.......  1  5 -  6
Northwestern........ 10 12 - 22
 
Attendance: 484
 
Johns Hopkins SCORING:
GOALS: Alex Nolan 2; Steph Janice 1; Sam Schrum 1; Mary Key 1;
       Kirby Houck 1.
ASSISTS: Lauren Schwarzmann 1; Sarah Walsh 1.
 
Northwestern SCORING:
GOALS: Kjellman, Kristen 5; Frank, Meredith 5; Nielsen, Hannah 4;
       Bowen, Hilary 4; Josephs, Aly 1; Dowd, Katrina 1; Donohoe,
       Casey 1; Jacobs, Ali 1.
ASSISTS: Nielsen, Hannah 4; Kjellman, Kristen 3; Bowen, Hilary 2;
         Frank, Meredith 1; Josephs, Aly 1.
 
SHOTS BY PERIOD       1  2  Tot
-------------------------------
Johns Hopkins....... 10 11 - 21
Northwestern........ 14 16 - 30
 
GROUND BALLS BY PRD   1  2  Tot
-------------------------------
Johns Hopkins....... 12  3 - 15
Northwestern........ 15  9 - 24
 
DRAW CONTROLS BY PRD  1  2  Tot
-------------------------------
Johns Hopkins.......  8 10 - 18
Northwestern........  4  8 - 12
 
CLEARS BY PERIOD       1     2     Total
-------------------------------------
Johns Hopkins.......  8-11  1-4  -  9-15
Northwestern........  9-17  6-9  - 15-26
 
FREE-POSITION SHOTS    1     2     Total
----------------------------------------
Johns Hopkins.......  0-3   3-7  -  3-10
Northwestern........  1-1   2-2  -  3-3
 
SAVES BY PERIOD       1  2  Tot
-------------------------------
Johns Hopkins.......  1  2 -  3
Northwestern........  6  3 -  9
 
FOULS BY PERIOD       1  2  Tot
-------------------------------
Johns Hopkins....... 10 15 - 25
Northwestern........ 14 17 - 31
 
TURNOVERS BY PRD      1  2  Tot
-------------------------------
Johns Hopkins....... 14  7 - 21
Northwestern........  6  3 -  9

2007-05-06