By Kikue Higuchi

The 2020 spring season ended prematurely, much to everyone’s dismay, and postseason awards have started to roll out. Inside Lacrosse announced the 2020 Maverik DI Media All-Americans on Tuesday, March 31. Northwestern junior Ally Palermo earned a defensive spot on the first team, while sophomore Izzy Scane was named to an attacking position on the second team. Senior Lindsey McKone and junior Brennan Dwyer landed on the third team, and junior Lauren Gilbert received an honorable mention.

Despite an abbreviated season, most of these finishes don’t reflect the dominance of the Wildcat team, especially after watching Northwestern’s final game against No. 1 North Carolina. Although it culminated in a loss, the ‘Cats put together a dynamic game plan that gave an exciting view into the future of the program. We have to remember that a lot of these other teams have amazing players, too, and deserve their spots on the first, second and third teams. However, Izzy Scane was robbed.

First, let’s take a look at Scane’s cumulative statistics. She has scored 29 goals on the season, averaging 4.1 goals per game and a shot percentage of 0.63. Scane has often been the driving force behind the Wildcat offense, leading the team in goals in four out of their seven games. She is ranked ninth in the country in goals per game and tenth in total goals. Her career high of eight goals was set in their final game against No. 1 North Carolina, which came after suffering a knee injury against Stanford.

Now, let’s compare these statistics to Inside Lacrosse’s attacking first team: Syracuse’s Emily Hawryschuk, Loyola Maryland’s Livy Rosenzweig and North Carolina’s Jamie Ortega and Katie Hoeg. All are fantastic players with great stats, but Scane easily competes with them. Only two players beat her in goals on the season: Ortega and Hawryschuk. However, Scane beats them all in single game goals with eight against North Carolina. Additionally, Ortega is the only one with a higher shot percentage at 0.76.

A more comprehensive picture, beyond just scoring statistics, shows Scane is still competitive with the All-American first team. Scane has grabbed eight ground balls on the season, landing squarely in the center of the first team. She also ties with Ortega in total draw controls. Finally, Scane has caused six turnovers this season (just behind Ally Palermo’s eight) while contributing only nine turnovers. She is only beaten by Hawryschuk who has seven caused turnovers while contributing twenty. Scane does fall behind in assists, but even then, she ties Hawryschuk with seven.

Scane boasts higher statistics than her fellow second team attackers: Boston College’s Charlotte North, Notre Dame’s Madison Ahern and Princeton’s Kyla Sears. She had the most goals on the season with 29 and soars far above her peers with 4.1 goals per game. North, her closest competitor averaged 3.3 goals per game. While these stats are strong, Scane flies by them and stands on a level with first team, not the second.

School rank is another important factor. All the attackers on the All-American first team play with schools ranked higher than Northwestern (No. 1 North Carolina, No. 3 Loyola and No. 4 Syracuse). But Northwestern has retained its position as the number one scoring offense in the nation, averaging 21.57 goals per game and 30.86 points per game. Yet no Wildcat attacker landed a spot on first team.

The attackers on the All-American first team are awesome, but it seems that Scane should have stood beside them based on her performance this season. Perhaps if the spring season had continued, we would have seen Scane continue to improve, break Selena Lasota’s single game high of nine goals and carve out an uncontested spot on the first team. But as it stands, Scane was ousted from first team despite her stats which rank her alongside the best players in the nation.