Women's Collegiate Lacrosse League

Foresters Remain Undefeated with Five Weekend Victories

 

The Foresters hosted their first home lacrosse games of the 2014 season, and defended their home field quite well. The Foresters entertained seven other WCLL teams at Farwell Field throughout the weekend including five WCLL Division I teams.

 

Toledo Game Recap:

 

In the first game, the Foresters played against the University of Toledo, a 2013 WCLL Playoff team. The Foresters started strong, jumping out to an 11-0 halftime lead, and never looked back as they defeated the Rockets 16-4. The Foresters were lead offensively by Senior Sarah Jonathan (3 goals, 1 asst.) and Sophomore Melissa Paluch (4 goals) who both recorded four points in the contest. Senior Emily White contributed three points, on one goal and two assists. Senior Amelia Lawrence had a stand out game on the draw circle recording seven draw controls to help the Foresters dominate time of possession in the game.

 

Senior Goalie Barbara Wye recorded eight saves on the day to lead the Foresters to the victory. Junior Erin Shamley recorded two interceptions and two caused turnovers, and sophomore Michelle Ricolcol recorded two caused turnovers as well.

 

Central Michigan Game Recap:

 

In the second game of the day for both teams, the contest had a strong back and forth battle early in the game. The Foresters would gain a strong boost as 2013 2^nd Team All-American, Melissa Paluch would come off the bench ten minutes into the game. Paluch would go on to have a nine point (5 goals, 4 assists) game against the Chippewas. Paluch who had missed the first three games of the season, became a strong force in the game as she also lead the Foresters in Ground Balls (5) and Caused Turnovers (3). Fellow 2013 All-American Erin Shamley dominated the draw circle recording eight draw controls on the day.

 

Freshman Sophia Goss, would record four goals in the game for the Foresters, and fellow freshman Hailey Hart recorded two goals. Senior Emily White recorded three assists and a goal for the Foresters in the game. Sophomore Goalie Manda Gibbs recorded 14 saves in the victory for the Foresters.

 

Purdue Game Recap

 

The Foresters continued to make their way through the jungle of Division I opponents as they took on the Purdue Boilermakers on Sunday morning. The Foresters would jump out to a early lead and would cruise to an easy victory 11-4, as 19 different players would play significant time on the field for the Black and Red.

 

Lake Forest would be lead by Senior Goalie Barbara Wye, who would record 11 saves in the game. She deflected three 8m shots during a stretch in the second half to preserve a six goal lead. Assisting Wye were defenders Michelle Ricolcol (5 GBs, 3 CT, 2 INT), Danielle Leonardo (3 GBs, 2 CT, 2 INT), and midfielders Erin Shamley (6 GBs, 2 CT, 1 INT), Amelia Lawrence (2 GBs, 2 CT, 1 INT), and Sarah Jonathan (5 GBs, 3 CT, 2 INT). The Forester defense extended up the field and was a deterrent to the Boilermaker transition game.

 

Offensively, the Foresters were lead by Senior Emily White and Freshman Sophia Goss, who recorded three goals each. White added an assist in the game as well. Shamley and Paluch recorded a goal and an assist each in the game as well. Junior Lindsey Jewett recorded two goals as she came off the bench. Jonathan recorded one goal and one assist despite playing most of the game as a low defender.

 

Xavier Game Recap:

 

The Foresters returned to the field for an afternoon game against their only Division II opponent of the weekend, Xavier University. The Musketeers would jump out to an early lead against the Foresters. The Foresters would find themselves in a deficit early against Xavier who dominated the early draw controls. Experiencing their first half-time deficit (6-2) since the 2013 Conference Tournament (Dayton) the Foresters would make several adjustments during the second half.

 

The Forester offensive chemistry seemed to be lacking as leading scorer Sophia Goss would miss the game. In the 2^nd half, the Foresters would slide Sarah Jonathan, a 2013 2^nd Team All-American Defender, up the field into the attack zone. An immediate chemistry between Jonathan and Senior Emily White would start to pay dividends for the Forester attack. Jonathan would record a hat-trick on the afternoon, including the game tying goal off of an assist from White. White would record a four-point game, finishing with 3 assists and one goal. Freshman Hailey Hart had a strong second half, recording two goals and an assist in the final thirty minutes. Hart also lead the Foresters with three ground balls and two caused turnovers from her starting attack position.

 

The Foresters would hold the Musketeers scoreless for the final 18 minutes of the game, and a game-winning goal by Sophomore Melissa Paluch with under two minutes to go, would seal the come from behind victory for the Foresters. Sophomore Goalie Amanda Gibbs would back from a tough start to record 10 saves in the game.

 

Wisconsin Game Recap:

 

A fatigued group of Foresters would take the field for their fifth and final contest against the Wisconsin Badgers. The Badgers, a 2013 WCLL Division I Playoff team, took an early lead against the Foresters. The Foresters, who were again without leading scorer Goss, would receive strong games from several players. However, the early going for the Foresters was plagued by turnovers and missed defensive assignments. Leading to a 5-4 deficit at the half time intermission.

 

In the game against Xavier, the Foresters slid team captain Sarah Jonathan to the offensive end to help, in the Wisconsin game, the Foresters moved Jonathan back to the defensive end where she recorded 3 GBs and 2 CTs in the second half. Fellow senior Danielle Leonardo, had her best game of the young season with 4 GBs and 4 CTs as the Foresters would battle back.

 

The main turnaround for the Foresters was their intensity in the ride against the Badger transition in the second half. Starting attackers Emily White, Hailey Hart, and Sandi Fredericks combined for 9 ground ball pick ups and 3 caused turnovers. Their pressure also lead to several passes that were intercepted by the Forester Midfielders.

 

Offensively, the Foresters received another big game from Sophomore Melissa Paluch (4 Goals, 3 Assists). Senior Emily White added 2 goals and one assist, while Freshman Hailey Hart matched White’s totals in the game.

 

The Foresters would come back to take an 8-7 lead with just over two minutes to go in the game. However, the following draw would be controlled by Wisconsin and a costly mistake by the Foresters in transition would lead to a 8-8 tie with a 1:45 left on the clock. The Foresters would control the next draw, and Paluch would net the eventual game winning goal with a just over a minute to go in the game. The Badgers would gain possession on the final draw of the game, but Sophmore Michelle Ricolcol would make in incredible one handed, leaping interception of a Badger diagonal pass to secure possession for the Foresters. After gaining possession, “CoCo” would carry the ball out of the defensive end before passing it up the line to the Forester attack. Lake Forest would effective run the clock down under ten seconds before an errant pass would give the Badgers their final possession.

The Forester Goalies combined for the victory as Manda Gibbs and Barbara Wye each recorded five saves.

The Forester improved to 8-0 after the weekend and travel to Northwestern University on Thursday evening to take on the Wildcats at LakeShore Field.