EVANSTON, Ill. — Nine different Wildcats found the back of the net, including three each from Aly Josephs, Kristen Kjellman and Meredith Frank as No. 1 Northwestern advanced to the quarterfinals of the NCAA Championship with a 19-7 win over Holy Cross on Sunday. The Wildcats will host seventh-ranked Syracuse at 1 p.m. CT next Saturday in the quarterfinals after the Orange defeated eighth-seed Vanderbilt 16-10 this afternoon in Nashville.

The Wildcats owned the draw controls 20-8 — nine coming from Kjellman — and outshot the Crusaders 49-14. Holy Cross goaltender Megan Orr recorded 20 saves and NU keeper Morgan Lathrop denied five of the 12 HC shots on goal.

Northwestern had some trouble finding the back of the net early on, not scoring its first goal until more than 10 minutes into the game. They missed their first seven shots — two hitting the posts — and finally scored the first goal on a free-position attempt by Hannah Nielsen at 19:27. After that, it was smooth sailing. Five-straight Northwestern goals followed over the next six-plus minutes as the Wildcats opened a 6-0 lead with 13:06 left on goals by Casey Donohoe, Ali Jacobs, Katrina Dowd, Josephs and Meredith Frank.

The Crusaders hung tough, scoring two of the next three goals from Amy Archambault and Patricia Sutton to make it 7-2. But the rally was short-lived as the Wildcats put up three late goals from Kjellman, Danielle Spencer and Frank to take a 10-3 lead at halftime.

Northwestern's Hilary Bowen drew first blood in the second half as her free-position goal made it 11-3. Still, the Crusaders fought back and scored two-straight goals by Ali Baird and Kristine Corkum, cutting the lead to six. But the Wildcats would put together one more run to put the game essentially out of reach, scoring four-straight goals to make it 15-5 with 15:54 remaining.

Josephs, Kjellman and Frank all tallied one assist for a total of four points while Nielsen recorded two goals and two dimes, setting a new Northwestern single-season record with 110 points. Christy Finch had another brilliant day on defense, forcing five Holy Cross turnovers while Kjellman caused four. The Wildcats forced 23 turnovers in all while limiting their own to 10. Sutton, HC's top scorer with 55 goals coming in, and Corkum each had two goals while Archambault had one goal and two assists.

Other Notes: Northwestern has now won 18-straight games and 31 in a row at home ... The Wildcats are now 10-1 in the NCAA Championship under Kelly Amonte Hiller and have won nine-straight NCAA games ... With her first assist at 15:55 in the first half, Nielsen set a new NU single-season points record, breaking the old mark of 107 set by Lindsey Munday in 2005 ... NU is outscoring teams 182-50 in the first half of games this season ... NU will play Syracuse for the second time this season ... NU won the last meeting 10-7 back on March 30 in Evanston ... NU is now a remarkable 59-2 over the past three seasons ... NU has allowed only one team to score in double-figures this season.

Score by Period       1  2  Tot
-------------------------------
Holy Cross..........  3  4 -  7
Northwestern........ 10  9 - 19
 
Attendance: 521
 
Holy Cross SCORING:
GOALS: Sutton, Patricia 2; Corkum, Kristine 2; Archambault, Amy 1;
       Baird, Ali 1; Fenton, Megan 1.
ASSISTS: Archambault, Amy 2.
 
Northwestern SCORING:
GOALS: Josephs, Aly 3; Kjellman, Kristen 3; Frank; Meredith 3; Nielsen,
       Hannah 2; Bowen, Hilary 2; Dowd, Katrina 2; Jacobs, Ali 2; Donohoe,
       Casey 1; Spencer, Danielle 1.
ASSISTS: Nielsen, Hannah 2; Bowen, Hilary 1; Donohoe, Casey 1; Frank,
         Meredith 1; Josephs, Aly 1; Kjellman, Kristen 1.
 
SHOTS BY PERIOD       1  2  Tot
-------------------------------
Holy Cross..........  6  8 - 14
Northwestern........ 26 23 - 49
 
GROUND BALLS BY PRD   1  2  Tot
-------------------------------
Holy Cross..........  8  9 - 17
Northwestern........  7 10 - 17
 
DRAW CONTROLS BY PRD  1  2  Tot
-------------------------------
Holy Cross..........  3  5 -  8
Northwestern........ 11  9 - 20
 
FREE-POSITION SHOTS    1     2     Total
----------------------------------------
Holy Cross..........  1-2   0-1  -  1-3
Northwestern........  2-4   3-7  -  5-11
 
SAVES BY PERIOD       1  2  Tot
-------------------------------
Holy Cross.......... 11  9 - 20
Northwestern........  3  2 -  5
 
FOULS BY PERIOD       1  2  Tot
-------------------------------
Holy Cross.......... 11 12 - 23
Northwestern........  8  6 - 14
 
TURNOVERS BY PRD      1  2  Tot
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Holy Cross.......... 12 11 - 23
Northwestern........  6  4 - 10

2007-05-13