The Trek Continues

Scene: The windy banks of Lake Michigan.

The two-year mission: To go where no man, or in this case no woman, has gone before.

And according to the captain's log, the trek has been more than successful.

Just calling the two-year stint of the Northwestern women's lacrosse squad a success, however, might even be an understatement. Since it was elevated to varsity status last year, the team has amassed an incredible 20-5 record and has claimed superiority in a region where lacrosse is about as popular as Captain Kirk is in the Klingon Zone.

And the pinnacle of the Northwestern mission should come at about 3 p.m. today, when the Wildcats--beamed down almost 1000 miles from home--take on Harvard in the Stadium in first-round action of the NCAA women's lacrosse tournament. The winner will meet UMass Saturday in the tourney's quarterfinal round.

The fact that Northwestern is making its first appearance in an NCAA tourney, in only its second year, comes as a surprise to almost everyone but Wildcat Coach Cindy Timchal.

"We do just about the same things any other team does," says Timchal, whose squad is the only one in the tourney from west of the Alleghenies. "Not too many people really know what we're like, but we expect to put up a good fight."

Perhaps the key reason few people--the Harvard squad included--know what to expect from the Wildcats today is that, despite their respectable 11-2 season record, all their victories have come against Division II and Division III squads. The Division I Wildcats dropped their only two matches against Division I opponents this year--a 7-4 loss to the University of Massachusetts and an 8-2 loss at the hands of the University of New Hampshire.

But just because the Wildcats haven't played the nation's toughest schedule doesn't mean they haven't tried. "Lacrosse in the Midwest just isn't very popular." Timchal say, "There aren't that many teams out here, so what we've tried to do is play as many Eastern teams as possible."

And Harvard Coach Carole Kleinfelder--whose Division I squad will take an 11-3-1 record and a seven-game winning streak into today's game--knows her squad can't afford to overlook the young Northwestern team. Kleinfelder notes it's just one loss and it'll be wait til next year. "It's one game at a time now," she says.

The Northwestern squad that will grace the Stadium turf today will feature four freshmen and seven sophomores. "We certainly won't have the experience factor in our favor," Timchal says. In fact, five Northwestern starters are playing lacrosse for the first time this year.

One of those, freshman Lisa Griswold, has amassed 49 goals, just one less than the Wildcats' leading scorer, sophomore Kathleen Kochmansky. The Crimson will look to keep the ball away from the potent Wildcat passing attack and out of the hands of Griswold and Kochmansky.

Leading the experienced Harvard attack, which this year is looking to better last year's seventh-place national finish, will be All-Americans Francesca DenHartog and Maureen Finn. The top scorers on the Crimson squad, this senior duo is playing perhaps its best lacrosse ever.

And at the same time, the rest of the Harvard squad is also peaking at just the right time. "I'm extremely pleased with how the team is doing right now," Kleinfelder says. "We've just got to keep doing what we've been doing."

Since today's game is a post-season tourney game, the NCAA will charge $2 for students and $3 to adults.