The final game of Izzy Scane’s 2020 season wasn’t one for the win column, but it was one for the record books. She scored a career-best eight goals, becoming just the seventh player in Northwestern history to record that many in a single game. It just wasn’t enough to take down top-ranked North Carolina.

Eleven months later, Scane picked up right where she left off — but this time, she took home a new record and a win.

The preseason All-Big Ten attacker set a new career high with nine goals in Northwestern’s season-opening 23-7 win over Ohio State on Sunday. She joined 2019 Tewaaraton finalist Selena Lasota as one of only two players in the program’s modern era to hit the nine-goal mark in a game.

Just one of Izzy Scane’s record-tying goals on Sunday for @NULax in a win over Ohio State. Sunday Scaries indeed. pic.twitter.com/qvL4ev0GNw

— US Lacrosse Magazine (@USLacrosseMag) February 14, 2021

Scane didn’t even know she tied a program record until well after the fact. Her teammates had congratulated her on the field once she reached eight, but her father — who would’ve been in the stands in normal times, but instead watched from their home state of Michigan — alerted her of the official news in a text.

“My mentality was just to score goals for the team and my teammates, who did so much to create the openings for me to score,” Scane said. “I wasn’t paying too much attention to the amount, more just helping the team succeed in the game to be happy with the outcome.”

Since she broke onto the scene with 62 goals as a freshman, when she played alongside Lasota in Northwestern’s 2019 final four campaign, Scane has made waves in Evanston. In 2020, she led the team with 29 goals in seven games. Only Syracuse managed to keep her quiet. She scored the eight against the Tar Heels and added four in a loss to Notre Dame.

After such a swift rise to the top in her first two college seasons, the prolonged offseason brought about by the pandemic offered Scane an opportunity to slow down and fine-tune her game. She returned home to Michigan and practiced alongside her three lacrosse-playing brothers. She focused on improving her finishing from different spots and shot angles.

“I’ve been working with the coaches to just [be] a calmer presence on the offense, in terms of not having to do everything 100 miles per hour,” she said. “Just slowing down and being able to see the field, see openings and work with my teammates was a really big focus when we came back in the fall.”

It seemed to pay off on Sunday. Her nine goals on 11 shots against the Buckeyes was one of the most accurate shooting performances of her career, and the Wildcats looked just as dynamic and dangerous offensively as they did last year. The defense looked good, too. The Wildcats held an 18-0 lead at halftime.

The 23 goals they poured on Ohio State were the most by any team in a single game in the season’s opening weekend, and 10 different players — including newcomers Leah Holmes, a rookie attacker, and All-American midfielder Sammy Mueller, a transfer from Virginia — found the back of the net.

The No. 5 Wildcats seem poised to keep climbing up the national rankings, and it’ll be Scane leading the way, with plenty more wins and records in sight.