No. 11 Northwestern opened the 2018 season with an emphatic 18-7 win over Canisius on the snowy turf at Lanny and Sharon Martin Stadium Saturday afternoon. Five different Wildcats scored at least two goals and twelve got on the scoresheet in the romp. Senior Danita Stroup led the way with a hat trick while Selena Lasota added two in her first game back since missing the final 17 games of last season. The youth movement was on full display for the 'Cats with 10 of 11 first years seeing action in the game. Jill Girardi and Taylor Pinzone registered a goal and an assist each, while Kate Copeland notched one goal and Brennan Dwyer assisted two more. The #B1GCats dominated the draw controls, winning the battle, 18-9, with a 10-2 advantage in the second half. The 'Cats also forced 25 turnovers and picked up 29 ground balls. First-year goalkeeper Julie Krupnick earned her first career start between the pipes and made two saves in a half of action. Mallory Weisse finished the second half with a save to secure the win. Sophomore Megan Kinna collected three ground balls and four draw controls while first-year Megan Gordon led the team with four ground balls. Northwestern blitzed the Golden Griffins from the start and built a 5-0 lead within the first 10 minutes. Junior Holly Korn scored the first goal of the season, followed by Stroup and Lasota. Girardi and Stein added the fourth and fifth on free position shots. Claire Quinn scored her first goal of the year just under halfway through the first period to make it 7-1. Quinn transitioned from defense to offense in the offseason and fired off six shots, the second most in the game. Sheila Nesselbush made it 8-2 off of a fantastic find from Jill Girardi, Stein ripped her free position shot into the net before Lasota scored her second of the afternoon on a clever backhand wraparound. The Griffins cut the lead to 10-4 before halftime, but the Wildcats put their foot on the gas pedal to open the second with a 4-0 run. Pinzone picked up her first career goal on a free-position shot while Stroup completed her hat trick to make it 14-4. With the lead at double-digits, Northwestern saw the rest of the game out handily. Junior Leighton Yenor found the back of the net off of Korn's second assist, and Copeland fired tallied her first career goal in traffic. Quinn finished the game off at 18-7 with just over a minute to go. Chicago's Big Ten Team is right back in action tomorrow against Detroit Mercy, with first draw set for 2 p.m.