Lake Forest defeated visiting University of Northwestern-St. Paul 9-7 on Saturday to finish the regular season in second place in the Midwest Women's Lacrosse Conference standings.
The Foresters scored first on a free position shot by junior Ali Graham with 9:24 to play in the opening quarter. After the Eagles drew even two minutes later, the home team pulled ahead for good on another free position goal by sophomore Jenna Doctor at the 3:40 mark. The teams combined for three goals in the final 30 seconds, including the 16th of the season for Lake Forest sophomore Krissy Kuwahara and the second of the game and 38th this spring for Doctor.
Both teams scored just once in the second and Forester junior Ryleigh Nelson's 22nd of the spring gave the Foresters a 5-3 lead at halftime.
Sophomores Abby Meyer and Savannah Frauhiger raised their season goal totals to 13 and 14, respectively, to make the score 7-3 less than four minutes into the third quarter. After the visitors answered with two goals of their own, Lake Forest freshman Emma Sharp struck for the 12th time this season, making it an 8-5 game going into the fourth quarter.
A man-up goal for Northwestern trimmed the margin but Graham's second of the day and team-high 43rd goal this year restored the three-goal cushion at the 5:30 mark. The Eagles were able to convert on another man-up opportunity in the final minute but got no closer.
Graham added a game-high seven ground balls and four caused turnovers to her stat line.
Lake Forest sophomore goalie Calliope Saban made a save in each of the first three quarter and earned the victory. Freshman Cecilia Adams added one more save while playing the entire fourth quarter.
The Foresters are now 7-9 overall this season and they finished 6-1 in MWLC play. Northwestern fell to 10-5 overall and 5-2 in the league.
The same two teams will play again in Lake Forest on Wednesday in the semifinals of the four-team MWLC Tournament and the winner will advance to next Saturday's tourney final.