Talk about deja vu all over again and again and again.
The Northwestern women’s lacrosse team has made the NCAA championship game for the fourth straight year, joining Maryland (eight straight) and Penn State (four) as the only teams to have done that in the tournament’s 27-year history.
The Wildcats, winners of the last three titles, reached Sunday night’s final against Penn with a 16-8 victory over Syracuse that was a carbon copy of their victory over the Orange earlier this season.
Close for a half. Total Northwestern dominance of the second half. Huge offensive game for NU junior Hilary Bowen. Stunning defense by sophomore Maggie Bremer in shutting out Syracuse junior Katie Rowan, the nation’s leading scorer.
NU next meets Penn, the only team to beat the Wildcats this season, for the national title after the Quakers beat the Blue Devils 9-8 in overtime.
“We knew we would have to play a spectacular game to overcome them, but the second half we fell apart a little bit,” said Syracuse coach Gary Gait, whose team lost to Northwestern 19-7 in the regular season.
“They are an experienced team that never stops. They can go 100 percent an entire game. Normally, both sides get a little weary, and you still have a great game.”
The first game between Northwestern (20-1) and Syracuse (18-3) was tied 5-5 early in the second half when the Wildcats ran off 10 goals. Northwestern led this NCAA semifinal 7-6 at halftime and then scored nine straight.
Bowen had four of her six goals after intermission, running her total to 78 and breaking the single-season school record of 76 that Kate Oleykowski set in 1987. Bowen had four goals in this season’s first game with Syracuse.
“Everyone stepped up their level of aggression, and we wore them down,” Bowen said.
Bremer undoubtedly wore out her welcome with Rowan, denying her the ball with body positioning and stick movement that gave new meaning to in-your-face defense. She dogged the Syracuse star all over the field.
“She is a great defender, very athletic,” Rowan said.
Rowan averaged seven points per game this season but scored none — and had only three shots — in two games against Bremer.
“I know it looks like a single stat, me blocking her out, but it’s not, it’s our whole defense,” Bremer insisted. “This one goes to everyone.”
Rowan wasn’t the only Orange player whom the Wildcats stuffed. By winning five straight draw controls and forcing five turnovers, Northwestern held Syracuse without a shot for the first 27 minutes of the second half.
“When we were winning the draws, it took the air out of them and made them rush,” senior defender Christy Finch said.
Finch will play the final game of her career Sunday.
In the final. What else is new?
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phersh@tribune.com
