[NU Sports] Northwestern's Luck, Or Lack Thereof

[BSchooler at aol.com]

Okay, here's the good news. Northwestern beat Princeton 8-6 to make it to the 
Women's Lacrosse Final Four. If the Cats can win two more games, the first 
against the hottest team in the country, Dartmouth, they win Northwestern's 
first National Championship since the 1941 Fencing team. 

Now for the invevitable bad news. Injuries! Apparently, our third leading 
scorer, Laura Glassanos, suffered an ankle injury in practice prior the Mount St. 
Mary's win. And Kristen Kjellman, ALC player of the year, injured an ankle 
against Mount St. Mary's. Glassanos was on crutches for the Princeton game while 
Kjellman played against Princeton but was sub-par. Here's the link to the NU 
Sports site recap of the Princeton win:

http://nusports.collegesports.com/sports/w-lacros/recaps/051505aaa.html

And here's what the Daily Northwestern had to say about the injuries after 
the Mount St. Mary's game:

<<For the first time this season, injuries may affect the Cats on Sunday. 
Junior Laura Glassanos, NU's third-highest scorer, stood on the sidelines on 
crutches Thursday after hurting her ankle in practice this week.

Kjellman came out of Thursday's game with a slight limp after getting tangled 
with a Mount player on a play.>>

Then I was excited to see that Northwestern is the #9 seed in the NCAA 
women's softball tournament. This is probably Northwestern's best softball team 
since the Lisa Ishakawa (sp?) era. Two very good pitchers and great hitting. So 
where do we play in the sub-regional? At Notre Dame where unseeded but 44-13 
Notre Dame is host.

So then I wondered what could have happened to our #5 seed women's tennis 
team. Not too bad. They hosted a sub-regional and beat a much lower seeded Notre 
Dame squad. So they advance to the national championship final 16 at the 
University of Georgia. And who do we play first? Nearby Clemson. And if we beat the 
Tigers and get by the Vanderbilt/North Carolina winner, we play either host 
Georgia (#8 seed) or Stanford (#1 seed).

I'm really bummed by the Lacrosse injuries. That team had seemed unbeatable. 
Thankfully, we escaped 8-6 versus Princeton. Then the softball team has to 
play at Notre Dame. That makes me sick.

Bob Schooler