WNUR’s Ben Goren (@BenG412) reviews what was a big win for Kelly Amonte Hiller’s squad.

It’s not often that you can say that Northwestern women’s lacrosse is an underdog, but make no mistake that’s what they were today. Hosting #5 Syracuse, the #7 Wildcats had to play a very good game to knock off the Orange. But that’s exactly what they did, holding on to win 11-10.

For Northwestern, it was a mix between experience and youth that carried the day offensively. Redshirt senior Kara Mupo scored 5 times and hit the post once to lead NU in scoring. True freshman Selena Lasota scored 4 times on 4 shots on goal, as her remarkable freshman campaign continues. She entered the day among the national scoring leaders, and if Northwestern can make a run to the top of the rankings, maybe a Tewaaraton Trophy isn’t out of the question for Lasota. She’s that good offensively.

But where Northwestern won the game was in-between the pipes. Bridget Bianco had a monster game, tallying 10 saves, many of which were on point blank Syracuse shots. The senior is well on her way to another great season. With Northwestern nowhere near as dominant in the draw circle this year as they were last year with Alyssa Leonard (NU did win draw controls 12-11), Bianco was going to have to take a step up this year, and she’s done just that.

Northwestern’s next game will be against top ranked Maryland, in another game where Northwestern will be underdogs. But if Northwestern can get individual performances from scorers and in goal like they did today, maybe the Wildcats can score another upset. Northwestern may have stumbled out of the gates for their standards, starting off the season 3-2. But as this young team matures, they’re only going to get better. Hopefully, today was the start of a run.