By Nathan Max
WSL Executive Editor

SAN DIEGO -- Five-time defending NCAA Division I national champion Northwestern University made Rancho Bernardo High School its home away from home for the second straight season Saturday night.

Sophomore attack Shannon Smith registered a career-high nine points on six goals and three assists, and she also picked up a game-high five ground balls, to lead the Wildcats to an 18-6 victory over Massachusetts in the second-annual Surfside Cup.

Playing before a crowd of 1,315, Northwestern dominated in every way and once again showed Southern California why it is the nation’s premier women’s lacrosse program. The Wildcats outshot the Minutewomen, 37-14, they had a 21-5 advantage in draw controls and they won the ground-ball battle, 21-11.

Smith was unstoppable, becoming just the seventh player in Northwestern lacrosse history to post nine points in a single game.

Northwestern senior middie Danielle Spencer scored five goals, and sophomore middie Alexandra Frank added five points on three goals and two assists. Freshman middie Erin Fitzgerald, junior middie Brooke Matthews, sophomore middie Lizzie Abramson and sophomore defender Lacey Vigmostad all had a goal to round out the scoring for the Wildcats (1-0) who won their season opener.

In a losing effort, La Costa Canyon graduate Merritt Cosgrove, a senior middie, scored a goal in her homecoming for Massachusetts (0-1), which fell in its season opener. Junior middie Jackie Lyons, sophomore middie Jesse O’Donnell, sophomore attack Nina Sarcona, sophomore attack Ryan Gorman and freshman attack Lauren Terracciano all added single goals for the Minutewomen.

Defensively, sophomore goalie Katie Florence saved 13 shots.

Northwestern took control from the start. Smith scored three goals in the opening 13 minutes to stake the Wildcats to a 4-0 lead, and their advantage just kept growing from there. By the time Spencer scored her first of the game on a free-position shot, Northwestern led 7-0 with 14:15 remaining in the first half.

Massachusetts pulled a pair of goals back to close within 7-2, but Northwestern answered with a six-goal run over an eight-minute stretch to extend its lead to 11 goals. Spencer started the run and gave the Wildcats an 8-2 lead when she scored off a feed from Smith with 8:44 remaining, and she later completed it with her fourth of the night, unassisted, with 44 seconds to play in the half.

The teams traded goals in the waning moments of the first half, leaving Northwestern with a 14-3 halftime advantage.

In the second half, Northwestern led by as many as 13 goals on two separate occasions, at 16-3 and 17-4.