Wildcats Making Third-Straight NCAA Finals Appearance

THINGS TO KEEP IN MIND

• The Wildcats, winners of 19-straight games, are making their third-straight NCAA Finals appearance in only their sixth year back as a varsity program.

• The Wildcats are 11-1 in the NCAA Championship under Kelly Amonte Hiller and have won 10- straight NCAA games overall.

• Amonte Hiller owns the all-time best winning percentage (.916) in women's NCAA history (minimum 10 games). She is 11-1 overall in the tournament.

• Kristen Kjellman has 35 goals in 12 NCAA Championship games (2.9 per game). She needs two to tie and three to break the record of 37 set by Jen Adams of Maryland.

• With 65 assists, Hannah Nielsen needs one more to tie and two to break the NCAA's all-time single-season assists record of 66.

• NU is a remarkable 60-2 over the past three seasons.

SETTING THE STAGE

The top-ranked Wildcats (19-1) are back in the NCAA Lacrosse Finals for the third-straight year. After defeating Holy Cross and Syracuse in the opening two rounds, the Wildcats have earned a date with No. 4 seed Penn—the host school—in the semifinals and will face the Quakers (16-1) on their home turf at 6/5p.m. CT Friday, May 25 at Franklin Field in Philadelphia. The winner moves on to Sunday night's championship game against either second-seed Duke or third-seed Virginia. Sunday's game will be televised live on CSTV.

'CATS GOING FOR 3-PEAT

Northwestern will attempt to become just the second women's team in NCAA lacrosse history to win three-straight NCAA championships. It would mark the first three-peat since Maryland won sevenstraight titles from 1995-2001. The 'Cats also would be the fourth school to have won three or more titles overall.

SERIES INFORMATION

Northwestern leads the all-time series with Penn 3-1, winning the last three meetings by a combined score of 43-18. NU won the only meeting this season 13-4 back on March 9 in Evanston. Northwestern's Kristen Kjellman has 13 goals in three career games with the Quakers.

SCOUTING PENN

Penn, winners of 13-straight games, is one of the hottest teams in college lacrosse and will get to play for its first national championship on its home turf at Franklin Field. Its only loss this season was to Northwestern back on March 9, 13-4 in Evanston. Since then they have knocked off seven ranked teams, including two top 10 teams in No. 7 Syracuse (10-8) and No. 5 Maryland (9-7). Chrissy Muller, a first team All-Ivy League choice, leads the team with 47 points (22g, 25a). Rachel Manson is the team's leading goal scorer with 36, followed by Ali DeLuca (34), the Ivy League's Rookie of the Year, and Becca Edwards (31). Sarah Waxman, another first team all-conference choice, has made 113 saves and spouts a .536 save percentage and a 6.15 GAA.

WE'RE BACK

This is Northwestern's third-straight year playing in the NCAA finals in the program's sixth year back as a varsity team. This year the Wildcats received the ALC's automatic bid by capturing the inaugural ALC Tournament title in Baltimore. Overall, this is the Wildcats' ninth NCAA appearance, receiving five during the first era of lacrosse from 1982-92. The 'Cats are now 11-1 in the championship under head coach Kelly Amonte Hiller and have won 10-straight NCAA matches.

AMONTE HILLER TOPS IN NCAA WINNING PERCENTAGE

Head coach Kelly Amonte Hiller spouts the best all-time winning percentage of any women's coach in the history of the NCAA Championship (minimum 10 games). She has won 91 percent of her games (11-1) and has not lost since the quarterfinals in 2004 to No. 2 seed Virginia. The Wildcats went 1-1 in 2004, 4-0 in '05 and '06 and are 2-0 so far in 2007.

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2007-05-24