A weather delay got in the way Saturday just as the clock was ticking down in Evanston to another Big Ten Tournament championship for Northwestern’s women’s lacrosse team.
About a minute and a half remained when lightning flashed above the lakefront. Soon came heavy rain. The Wildcats would finish a 14-12 victory against Penn State — giving up two goals in the final throes to make it needlessly close — in anticlimactic fashion.
Oh, so what.
‘‘Good for the plot,’’ star attack Izzy Scane said afterward. ‘‘That’s definitely a story we’ll remember when we’re older.’’
You know what else is good for the plot? The rest of us paying attention to a team — and a superstar — so out of this world that we would be fools to miss what’s happening right under our noses.
Forty-three consecutive victories at home.
A No. 1 ranking heading into the NCAA Tournament.
A national title — the program’s eighth — to defend, starting now.
And then there’s the irrepressible Scane, who scored five goals against Penn State and has 358 for her sparkling career. She netted NU’s first one and — from right on the goalie’s doorstep off a slick assist from Mary Schumar from behind the cage — its last and now sits tied with former Duke and Boston College star Charlotte North for the NCAA career record.
‘‘She’d say it as much as I will: We’re just lucky that we’ve been surrounded by such great people to help us get there,’’ Scane said.
People such as Madison Taylor, who has 66 goals this season — only four behind Scane — and leads the Wildcats with 93 points. And Erin Coykendall, a wizard with the stick who leads them in assists. And, of course, longtime coach Kelly Amonte Hiller, the architect of it all.
The Big Ten final, which Penn State led 4-1 after the first quarter, was uncomfortably close. It’s possible NU, at 15-2, isn’t quite as strong as it was in 2023, when it went 21-1 and destroyed its last three NCAA Tournament opponents by a combined 30 goals.
‘‘I’m excited that we were tested in that way,’’ Amonte Hiller said, ‘‘and it gives us an opportunity to kind of look at ourselves and see how we can be better going forward.’’
After the outdoor Martin Stadium was evacuated Saturday, the Wildcats rode out the delay in a room inside Ryan Fieldhouse that was visible from the street. They danced. They sang. The game eventually resumed on an indoor field, with most of the biggest crowd of the season having taken shelter elsewhere.
Oh, so what.
‘‘It’s awesome,’’ Scane said. ‘‘Everything starts to get a little bit more sentimental when you’re coming in on the end of your career.’’
But it isn’t over yet. And with all that’s unfolding on college campuses — including NU’s — these days, it’s not bad at all to be reminded that sports are happening. Maybe not the major revenue sports — football, men’s basketball — but, no less so, balls and sticks and scrapes, blood and passion.
It’s right under your noses, people. Be sure to have a look.
Three-dot dash
Brewers fans are counting down the days until they can boo former manager Craig Counsell, who will be in Milwaukee with the Cubs in three weeks. But to what extent are there hard feelings toward Counsell in the organization? It has been a question since owner Mark Attanasio ripped Counsell in November for joining a division rival.
Christian Yelich, still the Brewers’ biggest-name player, had only good things to say over the weekend at Wrigley Field.
‘‘I’m still friends with ‘Counse,’ ’’ he said. ‘‘Just because he’s over here now, it doesn’t change anything. I kind of look at it as it’s the same if a player reached free agency: You earn the right to kind of go where you’re wanted. Not that he wasn’t wanted here, but they obviously paid him a lot of money [$40 million for five years] and it made sense for him. I don’t hold that against him.’’ . . .
Counsell is fond of saying, ‘‘The next game is the biggest game of the year.’’ With left-hander Justin Steele set to return to the mound for the Cubs on Monday, it kind of is. The rotation has been more than hanging in there without its Opening Day starter, but Steele is still the linchpin. He and Shota Imanaga can start competing with each other now — in a good way, of course. . . .
Counsell is fond of saying, “The next game is the biggest game of the year.” With Justin Steele set to return to the mound for the Cubs on Monday, it kind of is. The rotation has been more than hanging in there without its opening-day starter, but Steele is still the linchpin. He and Shota Imanaga can start competing with each other now — in a good way, of course. …
The last-place Cardinals — coming off a series loss to the White Sox — are a mess. They’re too old here, too young there and truly awful at home. President of baseball operations John Mozeliak asks for ‘‘patience’’ so often that fans are having Pavlovian responses that involve posting angrily on social media and heaving trays of freshly toasted ravioli at the nearest wall. And this was the (very slight) division favorite? . . .
The Cavaliers beat the Magic on Sunday in the only NBA first-round playoff series that went the distance. The excitement was limited, though, with the road team losing all seven games. You know what they say: A series doesn’t really start until somebody wins a road game. Unless you’re the Bulls, in which case a series doesn’t start, period. . . .
NBA conference semifinal series predictions, no extra charge: Knicks over Pacers in six, Celtics over Cavs in five, Nuggets over Timberwolves in six, Thunder over Mavericks in seven. And print it. . . .
The Fire have found the back of the net only 11 times in 11 games, have been blanked in four consecutive outings and are on pace for their lowest-scoring season. Other than that, they’re really firing on all cylinders. . . .
The Sun-Times’ Richard Roeper panned Jerry Seinfeld’s new Netflix movie in the harshest of terms, calling it ‘‘astonishingly unfunny,’’ ‘‘deeply weird’’ and ‘‘so clear-the-room dreadful it almost plays like a horror movie.’’ The craziest part? The movie isn’t even about the 2024 Sox.
