Lacrosse: No. 3 Northwestern bounces back, defeats No. 18 USC in West Coast showing

The Wildcats showed the Trojans what its like to face a dominant Lake Show contingent during Big Ten play.

No. 3 Northwestern (9-2, 3-0 B1G) traveled to the West Coast on Sunday and took down No. 18 USC (8-4, 1-3 B1G) 17-8 to earn its third conference victory of the season. The Wildcats are now back in the win column, bouncing back after their loss against No. 2 North Carolina on March 27.

Junior Madison Taylor led the charge with five goals, while graduate student Riley Campbell recorded a team-high six points with three goals and three assists. Other major contributors included graduate student Niki Miles (two goals, one assist) and senior Samantha Smith (two goals).

On defense, freshman Mary Carroll recorded three ground balls and two forced turnovers. Between the pipes, graduate student goalkeeper Delaney Sweitzer recorded nine saves on eight goals allowed. The Wildcats dominated most major categories, outshooting the Trojans 42-24 and winning the draw battle 22-7. Smith was responsible for 13 of those draw controls herself.

Northwestern came out hot, as Taylor scored three goals in the first five minutes. The initial two were free position goals, while the third was a catch-and-shoot from sophomore Taylor Lapointe. A possession after Taylor earned her hat trick, senior Lucy Munro got on the board as well.

However, Northwestern’s 4-0 advantage did not last. A Munro turnover with 5:55 left in the first quarter ignited a USC offensive burst, as Isabelle Vitale found the back of the net just over a minute later. The Trojans won the next draw control and got another goal via Maddie Dora, cutting the Wildcats’ lead down to 4-2 to end the first.

The momentum was still on USC’s side to start the second, as Northwestern opened things with a shot clock violation, allowing USC’s Emma Bunting to score soon after. On the next possession, Kaylee Fravert tied the game up. With 8:03 left in the second quarter, NU had gone scoreless for over 13 minutes, while USC had scored four unanswered.

However, Campbell stopped the drought with a free-position goal just 52 seconds later. She then opened the game back up for NU with two more goals in succession. However, Dora kept USC close, scoring another one with her team’s first free-position goal of the game. But Northwestern freshman Hannah Rudolph responded with one of her own to bring the lead back to three goals. At halftime, the Wildcats led 8-5.

The two teams played back and forth to begin the third quarter, trading fouls and missing shots for the first four minutes. USC scored first, as Bunting drove in from behind the net to reduce her team’s deficit to two. This time, however, Northwestern didn’t let the Trojans to go on a run, as Lapointe, Taylor and Smith scored three straight. With five seconds left in the quarter, Vitale took a phenomenal shot that went past several NU defenders and Sweitzer to make the score 11-7, but that was the final point in the game where it was remotely close.

In the fourth quarter, it was all Northwestern. Taylor, Smith, Miles and Munro scored five straight goals to bring the ‘Cats lead to a comfortable 16-7, allowing NU head coach Kelly Amonte Hiller to start emptying the bench. Vitale scored her third of the day in garbage time, but at that point, the Trojans had no chance at a comeback. Sophomore Lauren Archer sealed things with a behind-the-back goal with 2:03 left, and the Wildcats emerged victorious with a final score of 17-8.

Northwestern will next compete on Thursday, when it travels to Baltimore to take on No. 4 Johns Hopkins at 5 p.m. CDT.