Unshakable belief carries Kelly Amonte Hiller and Northwestern WLAX back to the Final Four

· Yahoo Sports

Rarely does it feel appropriate to say that a team has Kelly Amonte Hiller’s number. Widely considered to be one of the greatest coaches in the history of women’s lacrosse, Coach Amonte Hiller is usually the one getting the better of the X’s and O’s.

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This year, Colorado head coach Ann Elliott Whidden schemed things up against the ‘Cats about as well as anyone can.

In Northwestern’s first time meeting the Buffs this season, it was held to just nine goals, falling 10-9 in Ryan Fieldhouse. On Thursday afternoon, it was Colorado’s offensive game plan, rather, that charged the Buffaloes’ 8-6 first-half lead. Coach Whidden spaced out her offense, effectively using off-ball screens to free up her attackers for back cuts toward the crease. The Buffaloes found point-blank within 15 feet of the cage all afternoon, with 18 of their 20 shots being on goal.

With Colorado’s shots coming from close distance, NU’s Second Team All-American goalkeeper, Jenika Cuocco, was minimized, held to zero saves in the first period. In fact, Colorado’s stars outshone the ‘Cats’ top talents all game long, with Maddie Shoup’s eight points (four goals and four assists) trumping Madison Taylor’s five (four goals and one assist), while Elena Oh’s 11 saves bested Cuocco’s final tally of six.

Colorado set the tone and flipped the script of the game. As Coach Hiller admitted in the postgame press conference, the ‘Cats did not follow their own game plan and were forced, down two at the half, to regroup and respond.

However, perhaps what truly marks Coach Hiller’s greatness is the mental toughness she builds in her teams off the field. Against Colorado, even without the schematics clicking, the work she did off the field, instilling a team-wide “belief” that doesn’t falter looking elimination eye-to-eye, fueled a resilient comeback campaign for NU in the game’s back half.

In fact, Coach Hiller believes that when preparing to face a team, what’s most important to her is knowing that her squad is ready to play together as a team, no matter what the other team brings to the playing field.

“It’s always about us,” said Coach Hiller, when asked about NU’s preparation to play the Buffaloes. “It’s always about what we do and how we play and how we carry ourselves. That truly was our focus in the preparation.”

With this internal focus, the ‘Cats were able to right the ship in the second half. After surrendering a Shoup goal at the 13:59 mark in the third quarter, Northwestern held the Buffaloes scoreless for over ten minutes, with increased defensive discipline that did a better job protecting the arc’s interior and defending without fouling. After receiving five cards in the first half that allowed Colorado to score four woman-up goals, NU did not get carded the entire second half, making spacing tougher for the Buffs’ offense.

Even trailing 11-10 with 8:48 remaining in the fourth quarter, the ‘Cats still could not fathom a losing scenario. Ignited by team-wide belief, goals from Taylor Lapointe and Madison Taylor down the stretch kept Northwestern’s season alive, helping to force the game into overtime.

“I’m very proud I can be making those contributions, but my teammates are the ones who prepare me for them and get me into those opportunities,” said Lapointe, who finished with a hat trick. “I’m just really grateful that people around me have belief in me and I believe in them.”

Taylor echoed the power of the team’s belief, recalling the moment in the second overtime when she came back onto the field after being relegated to the penalty box for dangerous contact on her shot attempt in the final moments of the first overtime period. The ‘Cats ran down the shot clock, waiting for her to come back on the field, as a Martin Stadium packed with purple roared with anticipation.

“I feel like that’s just a testament to what this program’s all about and this belief that we pour into each other every single day,” said Taylor, while chuckling about the humility of being cheered upon after committing a costly penalty.

For a moment, it seemed almost scripted that Taylor would come back on the field and score the winning goal for the Wildcats. Instead, in the game’s final moments, it was Noel Cumberland, the junior midfielder from Fallston, Maryland, who ended up being the ‘Cats’ hero, sending NU to the Final Four with a sudden-death free-position goal:

Even this moment, that will forever be etched into Northwestern sports lore, can be attributed to the power of Cumberland’s mindset and belief, according to Hiller.

“She worked really, really hard over the summer and into the fall, not just on her physical game, but even more so on her mental game,” said Coach Hiller, speaking on the junior’s development. “I really pushed her on that, and it’s been all the difference to see her believe in herself. That was not the case before, to see her be positive in really tough moments.”

With Cumberland’s final strike and a comeback built upon unshakable confidence, the ‘Cats are headed to their seventh-straight Final Four, their seventeenth in program history. Northwestern is slated to face Johns Hopkins on Friday, May 22, back at Martin Stadium, with a trip to the national title game on the line.

But, no matter the schematics Coach Hiller’s squad faces on Medicine Field in the ensuing matchup(s), one thing is for certain: the ‘Cats believe that they’re going to win it all.

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