The LFC offense benefited from a second great day of draw controls from freshman Amelia Lawrence (Oldwick, NJ), as she recorded six draw controls. On the season Lawrence would record a team leading 28 draw controls.
Scoring first for the Foresters was sophomore Sarah Milligan (Vernon Hills, IL). Milligan would start the game scoring the Foresters first, third, and fourth goals, as well as assisting on the fifth goal earning her third hat-trick of the season. Milligan's first goal was on a beautiful cut to the goal, as Lawrence found her with a great pass from behind the Maroon goal. Breaking up Milligan's streak was freshman Emily White who scored the Foresters second goal on an assist from Lawrence.
With the Foresters up 4-2 after Milligan's third goal, the Foresters would receive back to back goals from freshman Sarah Jonathan (Clayton, CA) to extend their lead to 6-2. Jonathan score her first goal on a pass from Milligan where she would switch hands and surprise the Maroon goalie. For her second goal, Jonathan would miss a free-shot off of the Maroon goalie, but would secure the rebound and push it past the goalkeeper.
Up 6-2, the Foresters would control the next draw and push the ball into the Chicago zone. Freshman Danielle Leonardo (Springfield, VT) who was playing midfield for the Foresters was fouled while attempting to shoot. Leonardo would convert the ensuing free shot to put the Foresters up 7-2. To close out the first half scoring, freshman Caitlin Connors (Dover, MA) would scoop up a ground ball on the sideline and bee-line straight for the goal, scoring her 15th goal of the season.
Goalie Jenn Caldwell (would stop 6 of the 8 shots she faced in the first half, including the only free-shot of the first half. Caldwell finished the season stopping 56% of the shots she faced on the season.
The Foresters were energetic going into the half-time, and were excited to get back on the field to continue their pressure on Chicago. To open the second half, the Foresters made some alignment changes to help on the draw control. Moving senior CC Hayne (St. Helena, CA) to the midfield and sliding freshman Maeve Connelley (Lemont, IL) to a low defensive position. The move would pay off for the Foresters in more ways than draw controls. Hayne would score her first goal of the game on a great assist from Leonardo from behind the goal. Hayne would fake high and shoot low on the Maroon goalie who couldn't react quick enough.
The Maroons, now down 9-2 would score the next two goals, on free-shots against the Foresters. The Foresters seemed to be called for some questionable checks inside the 8m. Despite a protest from Coach Catanzaro, the Maroons were able to close the gap to 9-4.
The Foresters would get "fired up" in a post goal timeout, and would respond to Coach Catanzaro's challenge scoring the next three goals. Hayne would score her second goal of the game to put the Foresters up 10-4 on a full-field transition sprint down the sideline. Freshman Amanda Forsyth (Chino, CA)would substitute in for Hayne and score the next goal for the Foresters.
The Foresters would extend the lead to 12-4 as sophomore Erica Alto (Lindenhurst, IL) would scoop a ground ball up in the Forester defensive end and sprint the length of field dodging a number of opponents. As she neared the goal, she would pass to White, who would score her 24th goal of the season. Chicago would respond to score a goal of their own on another free-shot, making the score 12-5.
The Foresters were determined to up their score as Lawrence would score her first goal of the game on a nifty dodge that saw her split a double team and end up standing in front of the net with no defenders in her path. On the next offensive possession for the Foresters, Hayne would score her third goal of the day, giving her the first hat-trick of her career. The Forester sideline erupted with cheers for the senior captain.
"It was great to see the way that the team responded to CC's success. You could tell that she truly meant a lot to the girls on the team. CC had been patiently waiting for there to be enough students on campus interested in women's lacrosse for the last three years. Finally in her senior year, the freshman class had enough interest and the team was started. CC will forever be identified as one of the core members to get the program off the ground and running," commented Coach Catanzaro.
Now up 14-5, the Foresters made a number of substitutions to allow more playing time for some of the other players on the team. With the game far from over, the Foresters would concede a transition goal to the Maroons cutting the lead by one. The Foresters would make score the final tally of the day as Lawrence would penetrate to the goal, but instead of shooting, passed the ball back to Forsyth, who would score her second goal of the game. The assist gave Lawrence her third assist of the day, and fourth point.
"That shot by Amanda was by far the hardest shot we have seen on the field this year. The goalie had no chance on that one," said Catanzaro.
Freshman Barbara Wye, who played the second half of the game in goal stopped 4 of the 8 shots she faced. Five of the eight shots in the second half were free-shots, on which Wye made great saves on. Wye stopped 55% of the shots she saw during the 2011 season.
During the post game celebration, the ladies were able to douse Coach Catanzaro with a "Gatorade" cooler bath. The still cold Coach Catanzaro commented:
"This was the first Gatorade bath of my career in any sport. It was great. This team exceeded all expectations for a first year program. I was initially nervous that we would struggle after our first few practices indoors. In the end, a great group of young ladies played with great intensity and commitment. I couldn't be more thrilled with how they ushered women's lacrosse on to the Lake Forest campus."
No comments:
Post a Comment