SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- Freshman Mallory Weisse made a career-high 12 saves and sophomore Selena Lasota finished with five points to lead Northwestern past Louisville in the first round of the NCAA tournament on Friday evening, 15-5.
With the victory, head coach Kelly Amonte Hiller improved to 40-5 in the NCAA tournament and the Wildcats eliminated the Cardinals (12-6) for the third consecutive season.
Weisse made six first-half saves and senior Kaleigh Craig scored a hat trick in the first half to put help the Wildcats take a 9-2 lead into the break.
Louisville held the 'Cats scoreless for the first 12-plus minutes and tallied a pair of goals to cut the lead to 9-4, but senior Nancy Dunbar's second goal of the game started a 5-0 NU run that put things away.
Lasota had a pair of goals and matched a career-high three assists for the third time in four games. Freshman Leighton Yenor matched her season high with three goals, junior Danita Stroup recorded a hat trick for the first time in the purple and white and sophomore Shelby Fredericks had two assists for her 16th multi-point game of the season.
Senior Lauren Murray, sophomore Lindsay Darrell and freshman Claire Quinn led Chicago's Big Ten Team defensively with two caused turnovers each. Weisse and Darrell each had three ground balls as the 'Cats finished 17-11 advantage in the contest.
