Northwestern lacrosse wins national title 14-11 over North Carolina — 1st team in 40 years to win it at home
· Yahoo Sports
A mass of Northwestern players sprinted across the field at Martin Stadium on Sunday afternoon, bringing the celebration to the feet of the packed purple student section. They danced with their arms in the air, waving their national champion towels, as the fans cheered.
It had been 40 years since a Division I women’s lacrosse team won a national title on its home field. After a 14-11 victory over North Carolina gave Northwestern its ninth national championship, the Wildcats made the most of their rare moment on the Evanston lakefront.
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The players brought their trophy over to a swath of family and friends, a large part of the 8,316 fans who attended the first title game outside of the Eastern time zone. They were welcomed with hugs by alumni from previous championships — and 16 other national semifinal qualifiers under coach Kelly Amonte Hiller — on the streamer-covered field.
Amonte Hiller posed with the trophy above her head in front of the crowd after becoming the winningest coach in NCAA Championship history, surpassing her mentor, Cindy Timchal.
“I don’t know what else is better than that,” senior attacker Madison Taylor said. “That was like an ending that you would see in a movie, but it just happened in real life.”
Taylor capped her senior season with the final goal of the game after notching six assists. She had helped her teammates rack up goals all game, with freshman Gabriella McCollester totaling four and Aditi Foster and Taylor Lapointe adding three each.
Then, with 1 minute, 18 seconds to play, Taylor delivered the final dagger for Northwestern (19-3), circling in from the right corner with two defenders on her to score.
Photos: Northwestern lacrosse wins NCAA championship at Martin Stadium
The goal gave her 483 career points, tying her with Izzy Scane for the program record. Amonte Hiller said after the game she felt “blessed” to have mentored Taylor, who was picked No. 1 by the California Palms in the Women’s Lacrosse League draft in April.
“We knew when she committed that she had so much potential, but to see what she’s done, not just in the games but every single day at practice,” Amonte Hiller said. “She’s a great teammate. Everybody loves her. And hardest worker in practice every day. Just so coachable. And it’s just been a great honor to be a part of her life and to have her family in our lives.”
Taylor, who played in four straight national championship games, called it a “full-circle moment.” The Wildcats last won a title in 2023 when she was a freshman. She scored four goals in that game.
On Sunday, it was McCollester who became the unlikely successor in that role. She had only scored six goals all season, but the Wildcats needed her to step up when senior attacker Lucy Munro went down with a left leg injury with 4:22 to play in the first quarter.
McCollester scored all four of her goals in the second half, using what Taylor said is “a wicked shot that I’ve never seen before (this season).”
“It wasn’t my goals that won the game. It was the team and everyone around me believing in me,” McCollester said. “(Coach Scott Hiller) just kept telling me to stay ready and I stayed ready. Everyone just played amazing. I just can’t believe it.”
Northwestern’s win, which avenged a 12-8 loss to North Carolina in last year’s championship, came after two key Amonte Hiller challenges overturned Tar Heels goals in the second half.
On the first, Reese King was called for a crease violation after review of a goal that would have given the Tar Heels a three-goal lead with 8:11 left in the third quarter. Instead, Maddie Epke scored less than a minute later to help the Wildcats pull within 9-8.
The second key review came after NU freshman Mckenzie Brown sped down the field and fed a waiting Foster, who scored the go-ahead goal to put the Wildcats up 12-11 with 7:36 to play.
A minute later, North Carolina’s Caroline Godine had a goal overturned because of a dangerous follow-through. That would have tied the game at 12-12. But Northwestern kept the lead and scored the next two goals, with McCollester scoring on a power play and Taylor adding the final goal.
“They didn’t give us an explanation on what it was,” North Carolina coach Jenny Levy said. “We clearly saw on our iPads what it was, so we probably disagreed with that. But I thought those were momentum-changing decisions and I thought our team had to kind of battle through that and we didn’t do as well as we could battling through that. They were just unfortunate. I haven’t really looked at the film, so I can’t really comment.”
Amonte Hiller credited Northwestern’s IT department for getting the team’s replay system fixed last week after they struggled with it during the first two rounds of the tournament in Evanston.
“I know that sometimes it can be hard when you’re on the other end of it,” Amonte Hiller said of the reviews. “But it is a good thing that the refs have the opportunity to get it right.”
Addison Pattillo scored three goals and Chloe Humphrey had two goals and two assists to lead North Carolina (19-2). Humphrey’s second goal gave her 109 for the season, tying Taylor’s NCAA D-I single-season record from last season.
Northwestern goalie Jenika Cuocco had 11 saves, and the NU defense caused 12 of North Carolina’s 20 turnovers. Cuocco didn’t give up a goal in the fourth quarter.
“It’s not me. It’s my defense,” Cuocco said. “They gave me the shots I wanted to see. They put their bodies on the line to get a call overturned, and they are just animals. I work for them and they work for me. And that is a reflection of them and the hard work they have done all season.”
Northwestern ended the season on a 14-game winning streak after losing three of its first eight games. Amonte Hiller said before the Final Four that there was a time when she wasn’t even sure if they would make the NCAA Tournament this season.
But the Wildcats said they took time for reflection on what they needed to do better for their team.
That allowed them to end the season with a win at home, 16 months after Northwestern was awarded the first championship in the Midwest. Maryland was the last school to win at home in 1986.
Amonte Hiller, who built the program into a power since its first title in 2005, had tears in her eyes as she talked about how winning the title at home was “something special for our team, for our program, for our university.”
“I’ve never been in a situation where we’ve had the most fans,” Amonte Hiller said. “So to have the most fans, I know that was a huge asset to us. Their energy carried us, and I’m just so grateful for them all coming out and seeing, and I hope we have inspired more people to watch this game.”