EVANSTON, Ill. – Top-seeded Northwestern used a decisive run through the second and third quarters Thursday night in taking a 20-7 victory over the eighth-seeded University of Pennsylvania women's lacrosse team in an NCAA quarterfinal at Martin Stadium.
 
Penn was down just 4-3 when Erika Chung finished a Niki Miles feed less than two minutes into the second quarter. However, the Wildcats outscored the Quakers 7-1 the rest of the period to take an 11-4 lead into the halftime break, then scored the first six goals in the third quarter to break things open.
 
Penn's season ends at 15-5, while the defending champion Wildcats (17-2) move on to the semifinal round where they will face Florida next Friday.
 
Quaker Notemeal
*Chung, a junior, scored a career-high three goals and added an assist for four points to lead the Penn attack.
 
*Junior Anna Brandt scored twice and ended the season with 60 goals, three shy of the single-season record set last year by Miles.
 
*Miles dished out two assists on Thursday night to finish with 78 points for the second straight season, and had two caused turnovers.
 
*Keeley Block and Gracie Smith were Penn's other goal scorers on Thursday night, while Block also had an assist as did Eden Welch.
 
*Senior Izzy Rohr had a season-high four caused turnovers, while junior Natasha Gorriaran set a season/career best with three.
 
How It Happened
Penn needed just 1:11 to go in front on Thursday night, Chung finding Block in a lane and the junior potting the game's first goal. The Wildcats tied it up a little more than two minutes later, but Brandt rocketed home a shot six minutes later and Penn's lead was 2-1 with 5:30 left. However, NU scored twice in the final 1:29 and took a 3-2 lead after one.
 
The Wildcats then needed just 56 seconds to double Penn up, but Miles fed Chung for the dunk and it was again a one-goal game.
 
Northwestern got it rolling after that. The Cats scored three goals in a 2:27 span to go up 7-3, forcing a Penn timeout. The stoppage did little to stop the hosts, who scored twice more a little more than four minutes apart. Chung got one of the goals back when Block fed her on the doorstep, but Northwestern scored twice in the final three minutes and took an 11-4 lead to the locker room.
 
Any hopes for a Penn comeback were quickly dashed in the third. Northwestern scored just 56 seconds in, then added two more in a 1:58 span to get this game to a running clock with 11:29 still to play in the third. It never came off, the NU run eventually stretching to 16-2 before Chung and Smith scored the last two goals of Thursday night's game.
 
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