If there was any doubt that the overtime game against Penn State in the ALC semifinals motivated Northwestern, it was put to rest in the rematch.

No. 2 NU (19-2) beat No. 7 Penn State (14-7), 15-7, in the NCAA Tournament quarterfinals Saturday night, and it was even more lopsided than the score indicated.

“Just down the stretch, the girls have been really focused and it takes a lot of focus to be able to really put a team away,” coach Kelly Amonte Hiller said. “You have them on the ropes and you’ve really got to get that knockout punch. Earlier in the year, we’ve lacked that focus to be able to get over that hump and I think every single player since our loss to Florida has been really committed. That’s really the difference.”

Senior Gabriella Flibotte led an aggressive defensive effort early, causing four Penn State turnovers on their first four possessions. Meanwhile, the Cats’ offense took advantage of two early free position shots to take a 2-0 lead.

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Picture it: serene waves lapping against the large painted rocks. Giant trees gently swaying in a light spring breeze. The hazy outline of downtown Chicago rising in the distance.

For many, this would be an ideal vacation destination. For the Northwestern women’s lacrosse team, this is home.

“I think we’re super lucky and sometimes we forget how lucky we are to play on this field, on the lake, with the Chicago skyline behind us,” senior Erin Fitzgerald said. ”I’m really going to miss Lakeside Field.”

Seven seniors will step on this field for the last time on Saturday when No. 2 NU takes on No. 7 Penn State in an NCAA quarterfinal matchup.

These seniors have won two National Championships. They’ve accumulated an 80-8 overall record, including 40-2 at home. But they’re also the only ones on the team who know the feeling of a National Championship defeat, something that they would like to convey to the younger players.

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Northwestern women’s lacrosse coach Kelly Amonte Hiller confirmed Wednesday that the Big Ten will add women’s lacrosse beginning in the 2014-2015 season.

The talks began when Maryland and Rutgers announced last November that they were joining the Big Ten in other major sports like football and basketball. With the addition of these two programs, and with Michigan starting a team next season, there will be six Big Ten teams with women’s lacrosse programs, the minimum number required to garner an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament.

“When you have a conference office behind you, it’s a whole different ballgame,” Amonte Hiller said. “You get a whole different level of support, attention, media attention, everything.”

NU, Maryland, Rutgers, and Michigan will be joined by Ohio State and Penn State, two teams on the rise in the past few years. Amonte Hiller said that she hopes a home base in the Midwest will encourage other Big Ten schools to field teams in the future.

“It would be awesome to have more schools in the Midwest,” she said. “We already go to the East Coast, Maryland, Rutgers, we already take those trips so to have teams like Minnesota or Wisconsin or whoever added will be a great thing.”

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Over the past decade, Northwestern sports fans have become accustomed to an annual rite of spring: the lacrosse team’s trek through the NCAA tournament. Even casual Wildcat fans are familiar with their story – a scrappy coach arrived in 2002 to build a program from scratch, quickly winning seven national championships over the past eight years. Kelly Amonte Hiller’s teams have shifted the focus of the lacrosse world away from the I-95 corridor, and programs are now being launched from coast to coast.

Though the story of the current team is well known, most NU fans are not familiar with the story of the original Northwestern lacrosse program, which existed from 1982 to 1992.  Although still lagging behind many other team sports, lacrosse has gained a lot of exposure in the 21^st century. Back in 1982, lacrosse was a virtual unknown in the Midwest. There was no Internet, and national media coverage was nonexistent. There was only one ESPN channel at the time, and its primary college focus was on men’s basketball. For most NU students, “Lacrosse” was just the name of a town in Wisconsin.

The task of building the program fell to head coach Cindy Timchal, who spent the previous three years as an assistant lacrosse and field hockey coach at Penn. Timchal was hired not only as NU’s Head lacrosse coach, but was also as an assistant coach for the NU field hockey program, since back in the early days of women’s college sports, it was not unusual for coaches to work multiple sports.

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And so the quest for an eighth title begins.

Northwestern (18-2) defeated Stanford (14-6), 15-8, at Lakeside Field on Sunday in the second round of the NCAA Tournament after earning a first-round bye as the No. 2 seed.

Taylor Thornton, who was named a finalist for Sport Illustrated’s College Athlete of the Year last week, made a case for herself with three goals, an assist, four ground balls, four draw controls and three caused turnovers.

“Being a senior, I just had the mindset that, next week, I only have 60 minutes guaranteed for me to ever play lacrosse again,” she said. “So every ground ball, draw control, possession could be my last so that’s literally what’s running through my mind every time.”

The midfielder dominated in the crunch time, twice using her speed to blow by a defender and score with Stanford gaining momentum.

The Cardinal struggled to consistently mark all of NU’s attackers. Though they held leading scorer Erin Fitzgerald in check with no goals or assists, that left junior Alyssa Leonard and senior Ali Cassera with some space, along with Thornton. Each notched three scores.

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Senior Taylor Thornton has been named a finalist for the Sports Illustrated College Athlete of the Year, along with four other women and five men.

In the May 27 issue, which comes out on May 22, the magazine will name one male and one female winner, chosen through online fan voting, who excel on the field, in the classroom and in the community.

Thornton has already racked up a number of awards in her career, including conference and national Player of the Year in 2012, National Defender of the Year in 2011, four years on an all-ALC team, and three (so far) IWLCA All-America honors.

The midfielder holds the NU single-season record for ground balls, accomplished in 2012. She is also seventh on the NU all-time draw controls list, third in ground balls and third in caused turnovers.

This season, Thornton has recorded 24 goals  and 36 draw controls. She leads the team in both ground balls with 38 and caused turnovers with 24.

Not only has the Dallas, Texas native never missed a game, she has started all 87 contests in her four years at NU.

The other nominees include Baylor basketball player Brittney Griner, Oregon volleyball and basketball player Liz Brenner, LSU track athlete Kimberlyn Duncan and North Carolina field hockey play Loren Shealy.

Thornton and the Cats begin their quest for an eighth national title this Sunday against the winner of the Stanford-Notre Dame matchup.

With the No. 4 Northwestern women’s lacrosse team, there aren’t many things that seem impossible. If anything, it may have seemed as though it was impossible for them to get past the Florida Gators.

First there was the 14-7 defeat in last year’s ALC Championship game. Then there was the 22-4 drubbing on April 20 this year, the worst loss in team history.

But then, today: a stellar defensive effort; an impressive offensive display; a masterful coaching job; and an 8-3 victory over No. 2 Florida in the ALC Championship game.

“The last time we played them was humbling,” midfielder Alyssa Leonard said. “It made us realize that you can’t come out and just expect it happen, you have to will it to happen. I think we did just that.”

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