Foresters fall to #10 Aquinas

The Lake Forest College Women's Lacrosse team made the short trip to Marquette University for the Golden Eagles annual play date. The Foresters new that this would be a great test for them as they played some upper level teams in the Women's Collegiate Lacrosse League. The Foresters opened the day against Aquinas College from Michigan. Aquinas entered the game ranked 10th in the nation, and had won 12 straight games in 2011 by an average of 14.9 goals per game. Aquinas would jump out to a quick 2-0 lead on the Foresters, scoring both goals in transition. The Foresters would start to climb back into it with a Free-Possession Goal by freshman Sarah Jonathan. Sarah Milligan would control the following draw for the Foresters and they would have a great offensive possession with a lot of ball movement. The Foresters would connect on a pass from Jonathan to Milligan to tie the game at 2-2. Aquinas would convert on a Free-Possession to go up 3-2. Aquinas would start to gain some momentum as they would go on to extend their lead to 7-2. Aquinas would score another goal, but the Foresters would also score a goal as Caitlin Connors pushed a rebound out of a scrum inf front of the goal past the goalie to make the score 8-3 in favor of Aquinas. The Foresters would receive a bench penalty, and both teams would trade goals on either side of the five minute mark. The officials did not properly enforce the bench penalty, and the Aquinas bench tried to have the Forester goal, by Emily White, waived off (despite three minutes having run off the clock) before Aquinas brought it to the officials attnetion. Aquinas would play the remainder of the game under official protest. The Foresters would play the rest of the half a player down. Aquinas finished the first half scoring to take a 10-4 half-time lead. The Foresters came out of half time with great intensity and drew first blood in the second half as Milligan recorded her second goal of the day. Aquinas would go on to score the next six goals to increase their lead to 16-5. The Foresters would continue to fight, and received a goal from White for her second goal of the game on a great pass from Erika Alto. Though the Foresters suffered their first defeat to Aquinas 16-6, they did learn a number of lessons that they would take advantage of in the remaining games of the day. Defensively, the Foresters were paced by freshman Maeve Connelley and senior CC Hayne, who both picked up five ground balls each. Freshman Goalie Barbara Wye made 6 saves and sophomore Jenn Caldwell recored 5 saves in the second half.