For the first time in 40 years, the women’s lacrosse national championship was won by a team playing on its home field, as the Cats outscored North Carolina 14-11 at Martin Field. Attendance was 8316.
This was their 9th natty.
Mike Nolan
Congrats to the WLAX team!
One of the players also had a 4.0 GPA
NU continues to shine in women’s sports. Not only have we dominated the last 15-20 years in Lacrosse but recently won the national title in golf and have placed very high in softball and field hockey.
Harry
The UNC fans were complaining about the home game, but that is decided 5 years in advance so clearly just a coincidence. They were also complaining about the officiating favoring NU, however the Maryland fans were complaining about the officiating favoring UNC in their game on Friday.
It was good the weather cooperated as I got drenched and there was quite a bit of thunder during my morning dog park trip.
Regarding the venue:
This was the first time the title game had ever been played outside the eastern time zone so all the years NU was winning, the team and fan base at least had to travel farther than their opponents who were from the east I’m betting most of the times NU fans were outnumbered
Regarding the officiating :
NU last goal likely should have been nullified but UNC had no challenges left to appeal. Unlikely that late a goal coming off the scoreboard would have made a difference. On the flip side , In the first period there was a somewhat questionable call that got reversed against us which led to a UNC goal
Harry
It was an amazing game, and winning the championship at home had to have been so satisfying for everyone involved. From coach Kelly’s postgame interview, it really did sound like it was a bit of a dream come true for her—from building the program at NU to helping build the sport across the country.
The officiating was…weird. There were a number of no calls and review calls that were a bit baffling to me. On balance, things probably evened out, but you would always rather the refs get the calls right in live action rather than having several replay reversals. My guess is that the last NU goal would have stood up in review, as I think she was partially pushed into the circle. But then I was surprised by a couple of review outcomes, so who knows. As it is, that critical ground ball pickup and goal was a nice way for Taylor to finish up one of the most remarkable NU careers ever. She didn’t contribute much to the goal count, but made huge plays all game.
I’m wondering if they will just leave that stadium set up full time? If memory serves, it was just going to be temporary, although I assume leaving it up was part of the deal in getting the championship game there.
Tom
I’ve been wondering that, too. Those were temporary stands, maybe they’ll replace them with more permanent ones.
I don’t know how far back NU was awarded this event, but the temporary stands for Martin Field weren’t in existence 2-3 years ago.
I wonder if the attendance set any records?
There were some complaints last season about access and ADA compliance, something they could solve with permanent stands.