Foresters Complete Season at WCLL Tournament

The Lake Forest Women's Lacrosse team finished their season on Saturday at their first ever WCLL Conference Tournament, held at Ohio State University. The Foresters would enter the tournament as the #5 seed, and take on the Butler University Bulldogs from Indiana, who were the #4 seed, in the quarterfinals. In a day that was marred with temperatures in the 30's and a constant rain, it was the Foresters who would heat up the field early in the game. The Foresters would jump out to an early 2-0 lead on goals by sophomores Danielle Leonardo and Emily White. White's goal would come on her first free position shot of the game. Sensational goalie "Babs" Wye, would stop three consecutive shots to open the game, including two free position shots, before allowing a third free position to go past her to cut the lead 2-1. The Foresters would quickly respond as Erin Shamley would control the next draw, and take the ball down the sideline before finding an open Caitlin Connors for a quick score in front of the nets. White would score her second goal to bump the Forester lead to 4-1.

"I was excited with the way that we started the game. We were hitting on all cylinders and winning every ground ball. That was the type of effort that we expect, and I was excited to see our girls start off like that, especially after a long van ride the day before," commented Coach Catanzaro.

Butler would record their second goal on the next possession, but once again, the Foresters would answer with their fifth goal of the day, this time by Amelia Lawrence on a nifty dodge between two Bulldog defenders. The Foresters would sputter out on draw control, and Butler would cut the lead to 5-3. On the ensuing possession, the Bulldogs would be awarded a free position shot, and their conversion would make the score 5-4. The Foresters would call a timeout, regroup, have a few substitutions as they retook the field.

"I felt like we got a little overconfident. We had come off the Kalamazoo win, where we had just run away from them early, and I was afraid that there was a little bit of a hangover effect from that game. As the game got cut to 5-4, you could see a look of surprise from some of our girls. I had to remind them that this is a tournament of the leagues best, and that we are a 10 win team. Our confidence needed to stay up," said Catanzaro.

Coming out of the timeout, Sarah Milligan took the ball of a quick feed from Lindsey Jewett, who was stationed behind the net, and score her first goal of the day. Lawrence would close out the first half scoring by giving the Foresters a 7-4 lead going into intermission. The Foresters took the field in the second half with tremendous energy, and would tally the first three goals of the second half in a span of 2 minutes and 30 seconds, all of which came from team captain Emily White. White would score on a Free Position to grow the lead to 8-4, and would follow that goal up with a right handed scoop shot past the Bulldog goalie. Her 5th goal of the game would come on a feed from Lawrence and gave the Foresters a 10-4 lead. Butler would call a timeout. Out of the timeout, Butler would record four straight goals, two of which would come off of Forester turnovers. With the score 10-8, and 17 minutes remaining in the game, Coach Catanzaro would call a timeout.

"We stopped winning the 50-50 balls. I wanted to make sure that we were focused on that small component. I knew that if we had possession, we would win the game, but we weren't creating those extra possessions," Catanzaro commented.

The Foresters came out of the time out, and scored an immediate goal, on a Free Position by Amelia Lawrence. Up 11-8, the Foresters looked to take permanent control. On the next draw control, Erin Shamley, took the ball behind the Bulldog net. For the next six minutes and twenty-two seconds, the Foresters maintained possession without taking a shot on goal.

"We were being very active on top of the 12m, and they would not chase our players with the ball behind the net. We had the lead, so there was no reason to force the issue, when Lindsey popped open, it was an easy goal for her." said Catanzaro, referring to freshman Lindsey Jewett recording the Foresters 12th and final goal.

The Foresters would close out the game possessing the ball for the final three minutes, despite tremendous pressure from a trapping Butler defense to secure a birth in the conference semi-finals. Defensively, the Foresters were lead by Jenn Caldwell who recorded give caused turnovers, while Sarah Jonathan scooped up five ground balls. Leonardo played her best game of the season, recording three ground balls, four caused turnovers, and a draw control to go along with her goal. White's five goals gave her 28 on the season. Wye finished the game with 12 saves.

Foresters fall to #1 seed Oakland

The Foresters fell to Oakland University , the #1 seed in the WCLL tournament on Saturday. A final tally of 16-5 saw the Lake Forest season completed with a record of 11-2. The #8 in the nation Oakland team will take on Dayton University in the conference finals.

LFC defeats Butler in rd #1

The Foresters defeated Butler University 12-8 in round #1. Play #1 Oakland at 12:30 in the semis.

Sophomore Emily White, Junior Michelle Sheehan, and Senior Brittany Rattinger after completing the annual 5k.

The Foresters took Tuesday off from practice to participate in the 3rd annual Ry's Run event. Different members had different responsibilities with the event. Coach Cat was the EmCee for the event, while numerous team members were involved with registration table, while still others were actually out running in the 5k.

It was a great event to help kick off Relay for Life week on the campus, while honoring a great member of the Forester athletic family!

Foresters Claim Northwest Division Title

Emily White's Eight Point Performance Propels Foresters Past DePaul!

The Lake Forest College Lacrosse team found themselves in a nip and tuck battle with a team they had defeated just five days prior when they hosted the DePaul Blue Demons on Sunday afternoon at Farwell Field.

The Foresters would jump out to an early 4-1 lead over DePaul as Emily White would score the first two goals for Lake Forest sandwiched around DePaul's first goal. Freshman Lindsey Jewett would score her first goal of the game to help extend the Forester lead to three. Team captain Sarah Jonathan would convert a Free Position opportunity after making a long run with possession from her defender position. It was Sarah's first goal since moving from midfield to the defense mid-season.

DePaul would begin to push back against the Foresters as they would convert a free position opportunity, and then take a draw control down field quickly to cut the lead to 4-3.

White would score her third goal of the first fifteen minutes of the game before Amelia Lawrence would give the black and red a 6-3 lead after a pass from White lead to a quick strike goal. DePaul would rally and tally their fourth goal of the half, cutting the lead to 6-4. On the next draw, Jewett would score her second goal of the half, with White assisting once again. DePaul would score their fifth goal of the day before White would close out the first half scoring with her fourth goal of the morning. The goal would give White her sixth point of the first half.

In a play that appeared to be a continuation of the first half, Lawrence would score her second goal of the game on an assist from White. The Blue Demons would go on a four goal run during the first 11 minutes to tie the game at 9-9. DePaul would take their first lead of the game at 10-9, before Caitlin Connors would tally her first goal of the game on a fantastic pass from freshman Laura Reckdenwald to make the game 10-10. The Blue Demons would score the next two goals as they controlled consecutive draw controls to take a 12-10 lead with 11:12 remaining.

A time out by Coach Catanzaro, would be followed by the Foresters score from Emily White who made an impressive dodge to the crease before defeating the DePaul goalie.

Sarah Milligan, the teams leading scorer coming into the game, would convert her first goal of the game to tie the game 12-12 at the 4:14 mark of the game.

As has been the story for the Foresters all season, they received a huge spark off the bench. Today would not be any different. Freshman Marissa Weber would scoop up the ensuing draw control and carry it deep into the Foresters offensive end. Weber would get the ball to Caitlin Connors who would roll the crease, but would misfire into the side of the net. Weber and Connors would both pursue the errant shot, and Connors would gain control. She would take another charge at the goal, but a DePaul foul would be called. Connors would take the ball behind the net, and set up what looked like another roll of the crease. As the Blue Demon defense slid to help, Jewett would move into an open spot in front of the net. Connors would pass the ball, and Jewett would not hesitate on the shot as she put the ball past the DePaul goalie.

Jewett would record her second hat trick of her freshman campaign, and her second against DePaul in as many games. In addition, Jewett recorded four draw controls on the day to lead the Foresters.

Defensively, the Foresters were paced by Maeve Connelley who recorded five caused turnovers and five ground ball pickups. Lawrence would have another three point game with two goals and an assist. She also recorded five ground ball pickups and three draw controls. Sophomore Amanda Forsyth was second on the team with three caused turnovers, providing the Foresters with some crucial extra possessions in the second half.

Sophomore goalie Barbara Wye had a difficult game in goal as she was peppered with 24 shots, of which she saved 12. Most impressively, Wye stopped four of the six Free Position Shots that she faced.

"I am thrilled with our girls and the way that they performed in this game. This was the biggest challenge that we have faced since our St. Mary's game, and it was good to see us make the necessary plays to win the game. In two years, we have had a lot of success, but this game meant a lot to our team. To win the division outright, and not experience a loss in our division was a great accomplishment. Our girls made a strong commitment early in the season, and they have been able to take the coaching, and continue to improve as a team. I am looking forward to seeing how we stack up as we move onto the WCLL Tournament at Ohio State next week," said Head Coach Jim Catanzaro.

Watch the game winning goal sequence here:

Foresters defeat pesky Maroons

FORESTERS START FAST AND FINISH STRONG!

LFC started off strong against the University of Chicago on Saturday, jumping out to a 4-0 lead on goals by Emily White, Amelia Lawrence, and back to back goals by Caitlin Connors. After a response goal by the Maroons, the Foresters would score two additional goals to take a 6-1 lead as Brittany Rattinger would score goal number five, before Sarah Milligan would score the Foresters sixth goal.

The Maroons would call a time out, and through a change in their draw strategy would maintain the next four possessions and score goals on each of them to cut the score to 6-5. The Foresters would realign their defense and close out the half on a three goal scoring barrage.

Sophomore goalie Barbara Wye was outstanding in goal in the first half as she would make fifteen saves while giving up just five goals.

In the second half, the Foresters would pick up where they left off extending their lead to 13-5 on goals by Amanda Forsyth, Lindsey Jewett, Caitlin Connors and Laura Reckdenwald, before the Maroons would score their first goal of the second half. With a seven goal lead, the Foresters pushed forward to a 16-6 lead before the Maroons would close out the scoring for the day against the Forester reserves for a final of 16-9.

Wye would finish the day with 24 total saves on the day, her season high. The Foresters would control the draw circle winning 14 of the 27 draws, freshman Lindsey Jewett continues to pace the Foresters in this category as she had seven controls in the game. Milligan and Connors both recorded hat tricks for the Foresters, while Jewett, Lawrence, and White had two goals a piece. The Foresters demonstrated better passing in their offensive end and in transition, leading to a season high 8 assists. Forsyth and Lawrence each recorded two assists on the day from their midfield position.

An aggressive Forester defense was paced by Lawrence and Erin Shamley who both created six turnovers, while Emily White and Sarah Milligan caused five and four respectively from their attack positions. Forsyth paced the ground ball patrol with six pick ups, while Sarah Jonathan, Shamley, and Milligan each picked up five ground balls.

The Foresters improved to 8-1 overall on the season 6-1 in WCLL League play. The Foresters close out their regular season tomorrow against DePaul (2pm) and Kalamazoo (3:30pm) at Farwell Field. A victory over DePaul would guarantee the Foresters a birth in the WCLL playoffs in Columbus, Ohio next weekend.

Foresters Defeat DePaul after a Slow Start


Lake Forest started out uncharacteristically slow yesterday in their game against Depaul University. The Demons would come out "swinging" and take control of the game early. The Foresters played uncharacteristically passive on the draw circle, and a few early possessions lead to a 3-0 deficit for the Foresters.

After a Forester timeout, sophomore captain Emily White would generate the Foresters first scoring opportunity. White would score her second goal less than two minutes later to cut the Blue Demon lead to a single goal. The Blue Demons answered the Foresters’ charge with another goal, before freshman Lindsey Jewett, found the back of the net with a hard shot from the top of the eight meter. On the following draw, the Foresters took possession on a Depaul penalty. The Foresters would settle down and circle the ball around the offensive end, before White would score her third goal of the game off a pass from sophomore captain Amelia Lawrence. On the next draw, Lawrence would take possession and roll the crease to tie the game with 58 seconds left in the half. A wayward draw would end up in the possession of the Blue Demons who would fast break to the Forester goal and score with a mere three seconds remaining in the first half.

At half time, Coach Catanzaro made a few line up changes, including inserting first year player Torey Crown into the starting line up. Coach Cat's decision would be quickly rewarded as Crown would scoop up the initial draw control of the second half, and take the ball immediately to goal for a score.

"Torey is a bit raw in her lacrosse skills, but she is as hard nosed a player as we have on our team. I knew that her aggressiveness could be a success or a fail, and fortunately, it was a great success. Her play inspired her teammates. I hope that she can keep that up going forward," commented Coach Catanzaro.

The Blue Demons would reclaim the lead on a double move to the goal. The seventh goal by Depaul would lead Junior Captain Sarah Milligan to take the game into her own hands literally for the next six minutes of the game as she would score four goals in a row. Two of Milligan's goals came off of assists from Lawrence. However, it was her fourth goal that showed a true grit, as she came through a "quadruple team." Though she admittedly missed two open defenders, the end result was undeniable. Depaul would sneak a goal in between Milligan's second and third goals, the Foresters would come out of the six minute spurt with a 10-8 lead.

"Sarah took over the game for a period. I could not have been more impressed with what she did in that time period. It wasn't pretty lacrosse, but it was effective lacrosse. When a team is struggling, that is sometimes what a captain needs to do in order to get the team moving in the right direction," commented Catanzaro.


A new defensive alignment for the Foresters would generate an impressive second half as significant plays by sophomore captain Sarah Jonathon, sophomore rookie Jackie Friedrich, freshman Erin Shamley, sophomore Maeve Connelly were joined by freshman Marissa Weber led to a stand-still on the Guest section of the scoreboard. Connelly controlled the groundball game for Lake Forest, leading the team with four pickups.

Lake Forest went on to score five more goals before the game ended. Jewett scored off a free position with ease, before junior Caitlin Connors would win the draw, carrying the ball, and scoring on a fast break. Vermont-native Danielle Leonardo scored the next goal on a settled attack before she positioned herself to snipe the top corner of the net. The Foresters would set up their next possession behind the net before Lawrence connected with streaking Connors who finished with another goal for the Foresters. The Foresters would tally one final goal as Jewett would receive a pass from White before putting the ball past the Blue Demon goalie.

The Foresters would be lead in caused turnovers by Emily White with four, while Jewett would pace the Foresters with three draw controls. On the day the Foresters would possess 13 of the 25 draws on the day, their lowest percentage of the season.

Lake Forest returns to action against the University of Chicago at 4pm on Saturday at Farwell Field.

Mid-game Goal Spurt, Spawns Victory over Northwestern

Lake Forest College started off their game against Northwestern this Thursday slowly, but kicked off a 10-0 spurt to put the game out of reach for the Wildcats.

The Foresters trotted out a new look line up for the third straight game as captain midfielder Sarah Jonathan moved back to shore up the Forester defense. The Foresters for the second game in a row saw freshman Lindsey Jewett line up at the center position. The Foresters demonstrated great draw control with the Colorado native Jewett commanding the draw. Jewett would record seven draw controls, and freshman Erin Shamley would record five during the contest. In all, the Foresters would secure 21 of the 30 draws during the course of the game.

The Foresters would jump out to an early lead as Jewett would score the opening goal on an assist from sophomore Amelia Lawrence from behind the net. The Wildcats would counter with two consecutive goals to take a 2-1 lead. This would ignite a Forester push that would score three consecutive goals. Caitlin Connors who made her first start of the 2012 season would tie the game at two a piece as Emily White found her cutting across the fan. Lawrence would control the following draw, and take the ball directly to goal, splitting defenders with a speed burst from about 18 meters out before defeating the helpless Northwestern goalie. Finally, Sarah Milligan would receive a pass from Laura Reckdenwald to give the Foresters a two goal lead at 4-2. Northwestern, who had three individuals who had previously played on their national championship varsity program, scored the next two goals to tie the game at 4-4. Sophomore goalie Barbara Wye deflected several shots before giving up the third goal for the Wildcats.

The Foresters would take off from there. Scoring the next 10 goals of the game to close out the first half and begin the second half. Many of these goals were the direct result of the stingy draw control exhibited by the Foresters.

"We had so many extra possessions because of the work our mid-fielders were doing around the circle. I was thoroughly impressed with the way we played. At one point, they changed who was taking the draw for them, and we were still able to make the necessary adjustments to secure the ball, I could not have been more pleased," said Coach Jim Catanzaro.

"Sarah Milligan was really a key to the onslaught of goals. She had a stretch of play that really took over the game. I have been waiting for this opportunity of her. We have been in some blowout games, and her minutes of been down because of that. Having the opportunity to see her play the majority of the sixty minutes was truly special. Sometimes we forget just how talented of a player she is," praised Catanzaro.

Milligan would score four of the next ten goals, giving her five on the day. Shamley would add two goals, while Jewett, White, Levine, and finally Connors would extedn the Forester lead to 14-4 with 13 minutes to go in the game.

A Northwestern time out after the 12th goal, did not stop the Foresters, but two key injuries did. Sophomore Amelia Lawrence and Sophomore Jackie Friedrich both went out of the game midway through the second half, and neither would return. The Foresters were already without starting defensive player Stacy Dierking on the day.

"These two individuals are keys to our success defensively. They play great on ball defense, and Amelia is particularly valuable in transition because of her speed," noted Catanzaro. "We put out a few lineup groups that were not necessarily comfortable with one another, and as a coach, I did a poor job of adjusting. I felt that we had a pretty sizable lead and that we would be able to weather any storm that they presented."

The Wildcats would begin a push to cut into the Foresters lead. In the final 10 minutes of the game, the Wildcats would receive seven free position shots, and they would convert on six of them. In all, the Wildcats would score seven goals to the Foresters three in the final ten minutes. The Foresters would receive goals from Connors, her third of the game, White, and Levine, to create a final tally of 17-11.

Wye would finish the day with 17 saves on the day, despite giving up a season high 11 goals. Of the 11 goals, seven were scored on free positions. Wye also made four saves on free position shots.

Erin Shamley and freshman Sandy Fredericks paced the Foresters in ground ball pickups with six and four. The victory was especially sweet for Fredericks who won bragging rights in her family by beating her father's alma mater.

"It was a great win against a Division I member of the WCLL. We will need to improve our defensive effort significantly. We can not commit that many fouls inside the 8 (meter), and leave our goalie in a vulnerable position. I am excited to have a weekend for us to get better, and I am hopeful that our girls will take advantage of this time. We have a tough stretch of important games over the next week, that will determine our fate for the conference tournament in Ohio," concluded Catanzaro.

The Foresters return to action on Tuesday as they entertain WCLL Northwest opponent DePaul University at 5:15pm on Farwell Field. The game time is a switch from the original schedule.

Foresters look to topple 'Cats in Thursdays home game!

The Forester Women's Lacrosse team will entertain WCLL Division I opponent Northwestern University on Thursday, April 5th at Farwell Field. This will be the second meeting between the 'Cats and the Foresters. The 2011 tilt between the two squads ended in a 13-8 victory for the Foresters.

The Foresters are currently 5-1 overall, and 3-1 in WCLL play in 2012. The Wildcats are the second of three division I opponents that the Foresters are facing in 2012, as they will entertain Ball State University on April 14th.

The tilt against Northwestern will start at 4:30pm.