"We were caught looking, and the adjustments that we made defensively weren't as effective as we had hoped. We had a few people who had tired legs from the games the day before and we should have provided them a sub as they got tired. In addition, the number of penalties we were being called for inside the 8m was very uncharacteristic. It felt that the game was being called very tight comparative to the previous 7 games that we had played. I took umbrage to two of the calls that were made during the man down situation as it seemed every 50/50 call went the way of DePaul. To their credit though, they were controlling the draw, and that is 80% of the battle in women's lacrosse," said Coach Catanzaro.Back to full-strength, the Foresters possessed the next draw and moved the ball through the neutral midfield before a turnover cost them possession. DePaul would take the ball down field and attack the 8m with a number of quick passes. Sarah Milligan would be called for an illegal check and would receive a yellow card, putting the Foresters down a player again. Goalie Jenn Caldwell would deflect the free shot wide of the goal and the Foresters would win the chase to the end line. LFC would possess the ball until the penalty would run out and they returned to full strength. The Foresters would not convert on the possession, but they were able to put a few shots on the DePaul goalie. The Demons would possess the ball and attack the Forester defensive zone on their next possession. In the possession, McCoy was called for her second yellow card on what appeared to be a "phantom" check to the head. With this being her second yellow card, and the teams third, McCoy was forced to sit for the rest of the game (and the next game), and the Foresters were forced to play the remaining 42 minutes of the game a player down.
"This put us in a tough spot. Not only did we have to play a man-down, but we were losing one of our two best defenders at the same time," commented Coach Catanzaro. "I didn't agree with the call, or the fact that she was given a yellow card, but that is a decision that once an official makes it, there is no coming back from it. I felt that some of the checks at the other end of the field were as, if not more, dangerous than the ones we were playing defense with."
The Demons would convert the Free shot and go up 4-2 on the Foresters. Lake Forest would control the following draw and Amelia Lawrence would push the Foresters deep into the DePaul zone. Lawrence would find a cutting Milligan for her second goal of the game to cut the DePaul lead to one at 4-3.
DePaul would push the envelope over the next eight minutes and show a tremendous ability to exhibit draw control, as the would control 3 straight draws, all of which would lead to goals as the extended their lead to 7-3.
Lake Forest would appeared to be fading, as if the games from the day before had wore them out.
"It was obvious that we didn't have our normal speed, especially in the open field. We didn't have the ability to take advantage of our athleticism in transition. I think that the combination of three games the day before and the fact that we were playing a man-down really wore out midfielders out. We were rotating a number of people that aren't used to playing as many minutes as they were getting. I think that they were putting additional pressure on themselves to do more than we expected of them," said Catanzaro.
The Foresters would get a boost before half-time as Lawrence would create a turnover and win the battle for the ground ball. She returned brought the ball the length of the field and would make a great fake the forced the DePaul goalie to adjust, and she scored easily. The goal put the Foresters down 7-4 at the half.
DePaul would come out of the second half determined to put the Foresters down for the count. Taking advantage of their man-up situation, the Demons would score three early goals. The first off of a draw control that lead to an advantage in the transition. The second goal came off of a Forester turnover and gave the Demons the ball inside their offensive zone. A Forester penalty on a ground ball would give the Demons a free shot which they would convert on goalie Barbara Wye. The third goal by the Demon's would prove to be their last goal of the day on another free-shot to give them a 10-4 lead.
The Foresters would control the next draw and would sprint down the field in transition. As Danielle Leonardo attacked the crease she was fouled, providing her with a Free-shot. Leonardo converted on the free shot to cut the DePaul lead to 10-5 with eight minutes to go in the game.
The Foresters would lose the next draw, but CC Hayne would create a turnover and run the ball down field for the Foresters. Upon entering the offensive end of the field, she would provide an immediate feed to the Emily White who would scoop the ball past the goalie. To cut the lead to 10-6. The Foresters started to feel some energy off the back to back goals. On the next possession, the Foresters would be fouled and the DePaul player would be sent off the field with a yellow card. The Foresters would turn the ball over in their own zone, but some tenacious trapping employed by the Foresters would have Lawrence create a turnover and take the ball the length of the field for her second goal of the game, and the Foresters third goal in 94 seconds cutting the score to 10-7.
DePaul would call a timeout after the goal, and the fatigued Foresters seemed to be the fresh team coming out of the timeout. The Demons would control the next draw and possess the ball for a full minute, but they were unable to convert on their shot opportunities, including two free-shots. Wye would make a save on the second free shot and get the ball to Lawrence to carry down the field. Lawrence would make a pass to freshman Sarah Jonathan who would be fouled on her way to the goal. Jonathan would convert the free shot to make the score 10-8 with just under two minutes to go in the game.
DePaul would control the next draw, and the Foresters would miss two consecutive opportunities to collect ground balls despite being the first stick to touch the ball. DePaul would run out the remaining time on the clock, and the Forester comeback would fall just short.
"I was extremely pleased with the energy and excitement that the girls brought to the comeback. I wish that we would have had that at the beginning of the game, or at least at the beginning of the second half. I think once we started getting more aggressive, we experience more success. One of the advantages that DePaul had was that they were very strong on the draw. In addition to that, they made good solid passes, so there weren't a lot of ground ball opportunities which has been one of our strengths throughout the season. We weren't nearly as aggressive as I would have liked early in the game. I think that the two yellow cards on Malaika early, really put us in a very passive defensive mindset. That passive approach carried over into our offensive performance. Once we got our spirit back up, we were able to get back into the game quite quickly," praised Coach Catanzaro.On the day, the Forester goalies played spectacular. Caldwell made 7 saves on the say after facing 14 shots, 3 of which were free-shots. Wye made 7 saves on the 10 shots that she faced, including 4 free-shots. The Foresters were outshot 24-16 in the game. The Demons also held a significant advantage in draw control, winning 15 of the 20 draws on the day.
Hayne paced the defense with 4 groundball pickups and two interceptions.
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