The Lake Forest College women's lacrosse team was edged out 13-12 by Bethel University on a goal with 26.1 seconds remaining on Wednesday.
The game featured five lead changes, including one in the first three minutes of the contest. Forester junior Ali Graham gained control of the opening draw, sprinted into scoring range, and gave the home team the lead after just 13 seconds of play. The Pilots tied the score with 12:40 on the first period clock and took the lead just 33 seconds later.
Just 33 seconds passed again before Lake Forest junior Krissy Kuwahara's first score of the season tied the game again. Bethel, however, accounted for the rest of the period's scoring and led 5-2 after 15 minutes of play.
Graham struck for the fourth time this year a minute-and-a-half into the second and junior Jenna Doctor converted a free position shot at the 12:10 mark, pulling the Foresters to within a goal and matching Graham's season goal total. The Pilots rattled off three straight scores, however, and were ahead 8-4 with 6:34 remaining in the half.
The Foresters answered with back-to-back-to-back tallies of their own. Freshman Shannon Gibbons was responsible for two of them while senior Emma Tryder scored one and assisted on another. Both teams added to their total in the final 30 seconds of the period, the home team on freshman Daulith Khan's second of the season, and Bethel led 9-8 at halftime.
Both defenses stiffened in the third quarter, which was scoreless until the 2:39 mark, when Lake Forest sophomore Ashley Carr tied the game. Gibbons, in her collegiate debut, completed the hat trick in the final minute and the Foresters led 10-9 going into the fourth.
After Bethel regained the lead with the first two goals of the final period, Tryder netted her second of the season and Carr scored for the third time this spring to put the Foresters back on top with 8:01 left. Graham registered one of her career-high three assists and five points in Tryder's goal and led Lake Forest with five draw controls and a game-high six caused turnovers.
The Pilots tied the game again with 3:42 remaining and scored the winner with 26.1 seconds on the clock.
Lake Forest had a shot go just wide of the net in the closing seconds and fell to 0-2 on the young season. Bethel improved to 3-2.
The Foresters will host Calvin College Friday afternoon at 3:00.