The Matchup
- The Loyola women's lacrosse team will travel to face off against Northwestern University on Thursday evening for the quarterfinal round of the NCAA Tournament.
- The Greyhounds were selected as the eighth seed in the NCAA Tournament, and hosted the first and second round games, while Northwestern is the No. 1 overall seed.
Quick Hits
- The Greyhounds boast seven players with at least 20 goals entering the postseason;
Jillian Wilson (60),
Chase Boyle (54),
Sydni Black (53),
Georgia Latch (44),
Meg Hillman (31),
Emily Wills (30), and
Anna Ruby (25).
- The Greyhounds also have six player with double-digit assists heading into the postseason;
Georgia Latch (43),
Emily Wills (41),
Sydni Black (26),
Jillian Wilson (19),
Anna Ruby (14), and
Chase Boyle (11).
- Wilson broke the Loyola and Patriot League single-season draw control record, while also setting the Loyola career draw control record.
- Following the win against American, Head Coach
Jen Adams became the all-time wins leader at Loyola, tallying her 198th career win. With the win over Colgate, Adams reached 200 career wins as the head coach at Loyola.
- With the win over Army, the Greyhounds won their seventh Patriot League Championship.
Opening Draw
- This is the fifth straight season that the Greyhounds have made the NCAA tournament.
- It is also the second straight year that the Greyhounds will host the first and second round and third time since 2018, where they also played Fairfield in the first round, that they have hosted the first and second round.
- This is the second straight season that the Greyhounds have reached the quarterfinals of the NCAA tournament.
- In the quarterfinal last season, the Greyhounds faced off against Boston College in Boston, where they lost 20-13.
Series History
- This will be just the third meeting between the two programs, with the last meeting coming in 1986.
- The teams split their two meetings, with Loyola hosting both meetings.
Scouting Northwestern
- The Wildcats come into the meeting with a 18-1 (6-0) record on the season.
- Their lone loss came against Syracuse, week 1, where they lost 16-15.
- The Wildcats have 10 ranked wins on the season, including wins over then No. 1 North Carolina, No. 3 Boston College, and No. 4 Stony Brook.
- Izzy Scane leads the NCAA in goals (82) and points (110).
- Hailey Rhatigan has 54 goals and Erin Coykendall has 50 goals on the season.
- Coykendall leads the team with 44 assists, while Scane is second on the team with 28 assists.
- Molly Laliberty has started every game in goal, tallying 141 saves and an 9.06 GAA and an .468 save percentage.
Where We Rank in the Country
- The Greyhounds have dominated the possession this season, in big part to their draw control, which ranks first in the country, as the Greyhounds win 69.7% of their draw controls. In big part to
Jillian Wilson, who ranks fourth in the country in draw controls per game.
- Despite ranking 24th in the country in shots per game, the Greyhounds are one of the most efficient teams in the country, as they are ninth in goals per game and seventh in shooting percentage.
-
Jillian Wilson and
Chase Boyle both have a .500 shooting percentage or better.
- The Greyhounds defense has also been dominant, as they are second in the country in goals allowed average, allowing just 6.67 goals per game.
Lauren Spence ranks second in the country in goals against average, and third in the country in save percentage in goal.
- The Greyhounds also are averaging 8.14 assists per game, which is good for fourth in the country.
Nationally Ranked
- Heading into the NCAA Tournament, the Greyhounds are ranked 9th in the ILWomen/IWLCA coaches poll and 8th in the USA Lacrosse Magazine Poll.
- Northwestern is ranked No. 1 in both polls.
- The Greyhounds regular season schedule has six teams ranked in this week's polls. Syracuse (3rd), Florida (6th), Penn (13th), Army (14th), Johns Hopkins (19th), and Penn State (20th).
Patriot League Players of the Week
-
Jillian Wilson was named the Patriot League Midfielder of the Week following the Greyhounds win over Johns Hopkins.
- Wilson scored three goals while also adding an assist. She added five draw controls in the game as the Greyhounds won 12-10.
- Following her career-day against Towson,
Sydni Black was named Patriot League Attacker of the Week.
- Black scored a career-high five goals and had a high of seven points in the Greyhounds 16-5 win over the Tigers.
- Black also won Attacker of the Week for the following week, after she put up another career week.
-
Lauren Spence was named Goalkeeper of the Week twice during the 2023 season.
- Following the Greyhounds games against Syracuse and Lehigh,
Katie Detwiler was named Patriot League defensive player of the week for a record-tying 12th time.
- Following the wins over American and Holy Cross,
Jillian Wilson and
Georgia Latch were named Players of the Week.
- Wilson has now won Midfielder of the Week for five-straight weeks.
- Detwiler was named Defender of the Week following the win over Navy, for her record 14th time.
Latch, Wilson, Detwiler, and Spence Earn Major PL Awards
-
Georgia Latch was named the Patriot League Attacker of the Year. Latch, who was the PL Rookie of the Year last season, led the conference with 2.78 assists and 5.44 points per game in conference games this season.
-
Jillian Wilson was named the Patriot League Midfielder of the Year for the second straight season. Wilson leads the conference in draw controls and led the conference in goals per game during conference play.
-
Katie Detwiler was named the Patriot League Defender of the Year for the third straight season. Detwiler has anchored the second-ranked Greyhounds defense, including limiting Army's Brigid Duffy and Navy's Ava Yovino to a combined zero points in their matchups.
-
Lauren Spence was named the Patriot League Goalkeeper of the Year. The sophomore led the conference in goals against average and save percentage during the season.
Tewaaraton Semi-Finalists
- The semifinalists were named for the Tewaaraton Award, and
Jillian Wilson and
Katie Detwiler were named on the 25-player list.
- For Detwiler, this is her second time being named a semifinalist, and is one of eight defenders honored.
- For Wilson, this is her first time being named a semifinalist, and is one of four midfielders honored.
