Lacrosse season recap: This team is more than a title

Truth be told, it didn’t matter if Northwestern won.

The program would have nine titles instead of eight, but Northwestern had nothing to prove. The legacy of a great team is not defined by one game, and the legacies of great athletes are not defined by singular plays.

“I’ve just had some of the best experiences of my entire life, and it sucks because it seems like one game changes that,” Izzy Scane said after losing to Boston College in the national championship. “We’ve lost, that sucks, but it’s been a really, really incredible ride.”

“So I’m smiling because it’s been awesome. I love all the people I’ve met through the sport, through Northwestern, through everything. So it’s hard not to smile.”

A championship-winning season may be the goal but Northwestern lacrosse has a championship-winning culture. Eight national titles since 2005 will do that, but this team, specifically, embodied that.

For 10 of the 13 weeks, the 2023 champs were ranked No. 1 in the country. And that was well fought for.

It wasn’t a championship bias.

It wasn’t an easy schedule.

The ‘Cats faced Syracuse, Notre Dame, Boston College, Denver, Johns Hopkins, Penn State, North Carolina, Maryland and Michigan — all in the regular season.

After starting off the season to avenge the 2023 season-opening loss to Syracuse, NU fell to Notre Dame in the second game of the season. While the program’s first loss in over a year sidelined NU from the top spot for two weeks, it was inconsequential and that attitude defines the confidence this team had in itself. It reclaimed the nation’s lead, defeating Boston College 14-11 in a game where Scane had five goals and Erin Coykendall had four.

Penn State pulled out the overtime win against Northwestern in late March, but once again it was quickly moved on from.

Northwestern capped off the regular season as the Big Ten champion with a narrow 13-12 victory over Michigan. It doubled down and then won the Big Ten Tournament, with just a one-point victory over Johns Hopkins and a two-point victory over Penn State in the championship. Maybe the ‘Cats should have had a bigger scoring margin, but this is a team that never gave up. It could come back and that takes strength.

Perfection in sports anyhow is not tangible. Whether determined by a trophy, determined by wins, determined by All-American selections or some other category, perfect doesn't actually matter. There was magic in watching this team across a season where it was the best of the best and featured players who are now ingrained into the sport. That is what should be remembered.

Not Boston College coming back from a 6-0 deficit or the last thirty seconds where Northwestern tried to equalize the score to force overtime in the national championship.

The 2024 title game was the last collegiate game for eight starters — Scane, Coykendall, Dylan Amonte, Lindsey Frank, Carleigh Mahoney, Jane Hansen, Kendall Halpern and Molly Laliberty. That comes down to six years for Scane, five for Amonte and Coykendall and four for Mahoney, Hansen and Halpern. While Frank and Laliberty were graduate transfers, they represented why players come to Northwestern in the first place — the chance to compete at the highest level of lacrosse and to play with and be coached by the all-time best.

2024 is much more than just 2024. While it feels like the end of the era with these departures, it is the start of a new one. It continued to set the foundation for the second wave.

This is the core that helped bring Northwestern a national title after 11 years. This is the core that brought the program to four consecutive Final Fours. This is the core that delivered two consecutive national championship appearances. This is the core that has begun another dynasty under Kelly Amonte Hiller.

The dynamic of Scane and Coykendall will be missed. A fearless scorer in Scane, the Tewaraaton winner — and potentially two-time winner — who holds the sport’s scoring record, and a highly intelligent playmaker in Coykendall, who has facilitated the attack.

But this season also previewed what's to come.

Madison Taylor, the sophomore, led the team in points and her 83 goals were just five less than Scane. Inheriting this offense, the Tewaaraton Finalist has two more years on this team.

Sammy White was a third-team All American in a season where she missed five games. White has always been a key player, and she will somehow inherit and even bigger role with Halpern and Mahoney gone.

The sister duo of Samantha and Madison combined for 155 draw controls and Madison was just a freshman.

Emerson Bohlig received the uptake in minutes that she proved to deserve, and as a junior, her speed and contributions on clears, draws and offense were instrumental.

Northwestern seemed destined for a title in 2024. Just like Boston College was with a group of seniors who last won as freshmen. But Northwestern will be back — the great players depart and the younger ones become great. This team already has a core that can take over.

The 2023 and 2024 teams have shown Northwestern is on top of the lacrosse world with or without a title.

As far as season recaps go, this one is relatively simple. It was dominant, as has become the standard for one of the best programs in lacrosse.

If you weren’t watching, you should have been.