NCAA Rewind: One Goal Short, Northwestern's 2024 Still Wildly Successful

Before USA Lacrosse Magazine looks ahead to what’s to come in 2025 — look out for our NCAA Way-Too-Early Top 25 rankings later this summer — our team of staff and contributors decided it was worth taking a last look at the 2024 college lacrosse season.

To do that, we’re taking a journey through 30 of the top teams in men’s and women’s lacrosse to see what went right, what went wrong and how we should feel about the season.

NORTHWESTERN

USA Lacrosse preseason/final ranking: No. 1/No. 2
2024 record: 18-3 (5-1 Big Ten)

What went right: Northwestern repeated as regular-season and Big Ten tournament champion and again played in the NCAA championship game. The high-powered offense, unsurprisingly, took charge. 

Speaking of repeats, Izzy Scane, who won another Tewaaraton in her final season, ranked second nationally in goals per game (4.19). Her wingwoman, Erin Coykendall (44 G, 57 A), also shined. 

But sophomore Madison Taylor, a fellow Tewaaraton finalist, saw her stock rise the highest, leading Northwestern with 116 points on 83 goals and 33 assists. Taylor scored multiple points in every game and was second in draw controls (74). 

Of the trio, Taylor will be the lone returner in 2025.

What went wrong: Northwestern’s loss to Notre Dame in February was the first sign that this season would be unlike any other in Division I women’s lacrosse. The Wildcats also suffered an uncharacteristic loss to Penn State, but that was rectified with a win over the Nittany Lions in the Big Ten championship game. 

Ultimately, the biggest blemish came in the NCAA championship game. Northwestern led 6-0 after the first quarter and appeared destined for a repeat rout against a Boston College team it beat 18-6 in the 2023 NCAA championship game. But Boston College rallied this time, using a six-goal second quarter to make it a game. 

The Wildcats had a chance to tie it with 28 seconds left, but a Shea Dolce kick save on a Dylan Amonte shot on the doorstep sealed Northwestern’s 2024 runner-up status.

Season highlight: Northwestern fell short of its ultimate goal of repeating as the national champion, but when the Wildcats’ faithful look back on 2024, they’ll remember the final games of Scane’s career. Scane continued to climb the Northwestern and NCAA record books, eventually finishing as the Division I women’s lacrosse all-time leader in goals. She set the record on May 12 against Denver.

Verdict: You don’t get to the level of Northwestern women’s lacrosse without having an inherent desire to win every year — and in the aughts, that’s precisely what the Wildcats did. That said, the 2024 season was a success for Northwestern that included the Big Ten regular-season and conference crowns. 

Getting back to the national championship game is no short order, either. Northwestern would know. The Wildcats fell short in trips to the final four in 2019, 2021 and 2022. Sure, they were a goal shy of a repeat in 2024, but these days, you can’t win ‘em all.