US Lacrosse Magazine released the Nike/US Lacrosse Division I Women’s Preseason Top 20 on Dec. 17. Team-by-team previews will be unveiled on uslaxmagazine.com through the end of the month and will also appear as part of the magazine’s NCAA preview edition in February.

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No. 4 Northwestern

2019 Record: 16-5 (5-1, Big Ten)
Coach: Kelly Amonte Hiller (19th year)
Assistants: Scott Hiller, Shelby Fredericks, Nicole Beardsley

All-Time Record: 375-136
NCAA Appearances: 21
Final Fours: 11
Championships: 7

2020 Schedule

* = neutral site

Save the Date
March 26

The squads met three times in 2019 — first in the regular season; next in the Big Ten Tournament final, which the Wildcats claimed for the first time ever; and then in the final four, which Maryland won on its way to a national title. Each team graduated its Tewaaraton finalist — Selena Lasota for the Wildcats, and eventual winner Megan Taylor for the Terrapins — but Kelly Amonte Hiller and Cathy Reese know better than anyone how to reload.

Scane Leads ‘Committee’ Tabbed with Replacing Lasota

The 2019 campaign was as close to a dream season as Northwestern has had in the last five years.

The Wildcats won their first-ever Big Ten title — beating conference rival Maryland for the first time since 2015 — and advanced to their first final four since 2014. Northwestern, so dominant during its seven-championship run but relatively quiet in the last five years, was back.

But there was no dream ending. Less than three weeks after the Big Ten tournament final on the same field, the Wildcats met the Terrapins again in the NCAA semifinals at Homewood Field. But this time, Maryland dominated from start to finish.

“When you have a loss like that, you’re pretty upset. You’re also thinking about your seniors that don’t get another year, but then [you’re] shifting gears pretty quickly,” coach Kelly Amonte Hiller said. “We’re pretty motivated to keep moving forward.”

Getting back there won’t be easy. When the Wildcats open the season in February, it will be the first time since 2015 that star attacker Selena Lasota won’t be taking the field with them.

Lasota certainly left her mark on the Northwestern program. Her name appears all over the Wildcats’ record book — most career goals (287), a number that also put her at fourth on the NCAA’s all-time list; fastest player in program history to reach 100 goals (35 games); and the all-time mark for goals scored in an NCAA tournament game (nine).

In 2019, Lasota powered the Wildcats’ offense with 85 goals and 19 assists, earning the Big Ten Attacker of the Year award and finishing as a Tewaaraton finalist in the process. Replacing her will be no small task.

“Everyone talks about [Lasota] on the field, but her off the field was pretty prominent as well for us. And so that’s the biggest thing we’re working on now replacing, that leadership,” Amonte Hiller said. “Any time you lose a great player like that, you replace by committee. You don’t replace it with one particular person.”

Luckily, that committee is pretty strong. The Wildcats return more than half of their starting lineup. Sophomore Izzy Scane, junior Lauren Gilbert and senior Lindsey McKone combined for 159 goals playing alongside Lasota on the attack last season, and junior Brennan Dwyer anchors a midfield that won the third-most draw controls in the country in 2019.

Four of Northwestern’s players — Scane, goalie Madison Doucette, midfielder Elle Hansen and attacker Greta Stahl — also featured on Amonte Hiller’s gold medal-winning U.S. team at the U19 world championship last summer.

The 2020 team had its first chance to play together in the fall, facing a slate that included the likes of Syracuse, Notre Dame and Boston College. The scrimmages gave the Wildcats their first taste of the competition they’ll face this spring.

“We challenged ourselves this fall [and] played a pretty tough schedule,” Amonte Hiller said. “That was a good thing for our team, and now’s a pretty crucial time for them to continue to develop over the break, and then when we come back, it’s really go time.”

Projected Starters

D - Kate Copeland – Jr. - 27 GB, 18 CT
D - Carson Copeland – Jr. - 21 starts, 17 GB
D - Ally Palermo – Jr. - 27 GB, 6 CT
M - Megan Kinna – Sr. - 17 G, 24 DC
M - Brennan Dwyer – Jr. - 181 DC, 8.62 DC/game
M - Jill Girard – Jr. - 14 G, 12 CT
M - Elle Hansen – So. - 4 G, 4 GB
M - Jane Hansen – Fr. - 101 G, 122 DC (high school)
A - Lauren Gilbert – Jr. - 52 G, 13 A
A - Lindsey McKone – Sr. - 45 G, 28 A
A - Izzy Scane – So. - 62 G, 59 DC
G - Julie Krupnick – R-Jr. - 97 SV, 41.1 SV%

Tewaaraton Watch
Izzy Scane, A, So.

Scane had quite the first year in Evanston. The Michigan native was one of just two freshmen to appear on the Tewaaraton Watch List, collected the Big Ten Freshman of the Year award and this summer, she brought home the gold medal competing for Kelly Amonte Hiller’s U.S. team at the U19 world championship. Scane and Selena Lasota were a fierce one-two punch for Northwestern’s attack last season, and with Lasota now graduated, Scane will have even more room to shine.

X Factor
Julie Krupnick, G, R-Jr.

Northwestern’s offense was the third-best in the country in 2019, but its defense was ranked No. 83 — by far, the largest margin between offense and defense for a team that finished in the Top 20. After graduating senior goalie Mallory Weisse, the Wildcats will likely turn back to Julie Krupnick, who started all 21 games and earned All-Big Ten honors in 2018.

National Rankings

181

Midfielder Brennan Dwyer’s draw control total in 2019. She spent most of her freshman season in 2018 as a backup learning from one of the best: Northwestern’s all-time draw controls leader Shelby Fredericks. A year later, she broke Fredericks’ record for most draw controls in a single season. The offense ran through Dwyer last season, and this year — especially with Fredericks returning to the sideline as one of Amonte Hiller’s assistants — should be no different.

Enemy Lines

“I think they’ll be good. I think there are other teams more dangerous, but never, ever underestimate Kelly.”