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.