Welcome to the Northwestern Wildcats' revenge tour, featuring the same stellar scoring offense and devastatingly good defense. You read that correctly – defense. That’s not normally what these ’Cats are best known for, but in a tumultuous year where they lost not only star senior attacker Izzy Scane before the season but also lost as many games this year as in the last two years combined, the only options were to adapt or die. And adapt they did.

Graduate attacker Lauren Gilbert is the nation’s 6th leading scorer with 74 goals and is showing no signs of letting up. Gilbert has scored 10 goals in the NCAA tournament thus far, with at least three goals per game. The only player left in the tournament with more goals than her is Boston College’s senior attacker Charlotte North with 82 goals.

Helping Gilbert and the rest of the team secure possession in order to score is graduate midfielder Jill Girardi. She averages nearly 10 draw controls per game, good for second in the nation, and no other Final Four player even comes close. Northwestern’s players have been true to form on offense, but lately it is the defensive play that has shone through.

Senior goalkeeper Madison Doucette has been a crucial fixture on defense lately. Helped by her team’s ability to turn opponents over frequently and prevent them from even taking shots, Doucette has had no issues in goal. While on the field during NCAA play, she has only allowed 20 goals and recorded 25 saves, nearly 10 per game. With her on her A-game, the Wildcat defense is in excellent hands.

As a whole, the defense improved from averaging 12.29 points allowed per game before the NCAA tournament to just 7.67 points allowed in their three tournament games. Their best performance was their last game as they held #5 Syracuse to just four points that afternoon. Their recent play has kept pace with the best of the best, which is great because the best is all that is left.

The remaining field includes the three teams #4 Northwestern was winless against this year: the #1 North Carolina Tarheels, #2 Maryland Terrapins and #3 Boston College Eagles. All three teams have top 15 defenses, allowing an average of no more than 10 goals a game. The ’Cats scored just nine points in each of those three matchups. The Wildcats are not only going to have to continue their defensive play but overcome the defensive powerhouses that remain in the tournament.

As the old saying goes, offense wins games, but defense wins championships. Northwestern is peaking at the right time and has the tools to make good on that phrase.