Lawrence and White shine for the Foresters in WCLL victory
Lake Forest College defended its home turf with great intensity on Saturday afternoon against St. Mary's College of Indiana. SMC entered the game with a 4-1 conference record, and the Foresters were 6-2 in conference play, with both teams vying for a bid at the end of the year tournament.
In last weeks defeat to DePaul, the Foresters lost the draw on more occasions than they won. All week in practice that was a point of emphasis for Coach Catanzaro.
"We talked about three things this week, moving on offense, talking on defense, and winning the draw. We did a good job on two of those things. I was really pleased with the way we played the draw circle. In addition to securing the ball, we were able to squeeze their best player off of the ball at the circle," said Catanzaro.
"Two players who made that possible were Sarah Milligan and Amelia Lawrence," praised Catanzaro. "Sarah did a good job on a few draws that went straight up, either winning, or tipping the ball to teammates. Amelia set a record for draws controlled with seven on the day."
Lawrence, one of the more prolific Foresters on the offensive end, struggled on Saturday scoring one goal on 6 shots. But here possession, and offensive development is what stood out to her teammates.
"She doesn't realize how much she controls the game for us, and what she does outside of scoring," said teammate Sarah Jonathan.
The Foresters would jump out to an early 3-0 lead as Emily White would score the first two goals for the Foresters. Sherie Dubinski, in her first start for the Foresters scored the Foresters third goal off of a free shot to give the Foresters a strong lead.
"I was really pleased to see Emily and Sherie getting us off to a fast start. Their goals really gave us a boost to start the game," said Catanzaro.
St. Mary's would get on the board with their first goal to cut the Forester lead to 3-1, on a fast break goal against the Foresters. Lake Forest would bounce back and score four unanswered goals. White would score her third goal of the game on an assist from Sarah Milligan. Milligan would then score the Foresters fifth goal on an assist from defenseman CC Hayne, who had carried the ball behind the St. Mary's goal before finding the cutting Milligan for the quick stick goal. Hayne would pick up an assist on the next goal as well, as she scooped up a ground ball, and carried the ball to midfield before finding a streaking Caitlin Connors who would take a few more steps forward before taking a shot past the Irish-Belle goalie. After the goal, Lauren Ross would sub into the midfield, and forty-seconds later would be fouled inside the 8m line. Ross would convert on the free shot, giving the Foresters a 7-1 lead.
St. Mary's would muster a flurry in front of the Forester net after the next draw before finally putting the ball past LFC Goalie Jen Caldwell to make the score 7-2. Emily White would respond with her fourth goal of the half on a scoop shot past the Irish-Belle goalie to make the score 8-2. St. Mary's would control the next draw and score a goal to cut the lead to 8-3 going into half-time.
Caldwell was stellar for the Foresters in goal during the first half. She made 8 saves including a save on the Irish-Belles only free-shot. In addition, Caldwell recorded an interception of a pass that likely saved an almost sure scoring opportunity.
In the second half, the Foresters would score the first two goals of the half as Caitlin Connors would score just three minutes into the half for the Foresters. On the next draw, Lawrence would carry the ball down field for the Foresters and pass to Milligan who looked like she had an open shot. The Irish-Belle defenders closed on her quickly, and she passed the ball to Sherie Dubinski who put the ball hard past the goal keeper, giving the Foresters a 10-3 lead.
St. Mary's would generate a free-shot on their next position, but Barbara Wye would make a great save on the shot, preserving the seven goal lead. After a turnover in the midfield, Wye would again make a great save on a shot from the St. Mary's team captain. The rebound however would turn into a putback for the St. Mary's to cut the lead to 10-4.
St. Mary's would generate a second free-shot of the half, and this time, Wye couldn't make the save as the score was cut to 10-5. The Foresters would respond as Leonardo would carry a groundball pickup behind the St. Mary's goal, before finding a cutting Caitlin Connors who would complete her hat-trick for the day pushing the ball past the St. Mary's goalie.
St. Mary's would score the next goal of the conference, but it would instigate a fierce response from the Foresters as they scored two quick goals. Lawrence, who had hit the post on three first half possessions, scored her first goal of the day on a nifty move past a defender and shot-faking the goalie before scoring. The Foresters final goal was scored on a pass from Emily White to Amanda Forsyth who ripped a powerful shot past the Irish-Belle goalie.
Up 13-6, Coach Catanzaro made a number of substitutions. St. Mary's would mount a flurry of 4 goals in the final 6 minutes of the game against the Foresters to make the final score 13-10.
On the day, Wye made 8 saves of the 15 shots she faced, Caldwell saved 8 of 11 in the first half. The Foresters won 15 of the 25 draws, paced by Lawrence's school record 7. Defensively, CC Hayne added five groundballs and caused six turnovers. Lawrence caused five turnovers on the day.
The Foresters improved to 8-2 in their first season of play and are set to close the regular season on Sunday against the University of Chicago at 1pm at home on Farwell Field.
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