Lake Forest College prevailed 16-6 in Saturday's Midwest Women's Lacrosse Conference Tournament final at the College of Saint Benedict to earn the league's automatic bid to the NCAA Division III Tournament.
The Foresters scored two-and-a-half minutes into the game and led the rest of the way. MWLC Midfielder of the Year Ali Graham gave her team the early advantage and sophomore Krissy Kuwahara's free position shot goal less than a minute later made the score 2-0. Saint Benedict got on the scoreboard at the 4:35 mark and the score was still 2-1 at the end of the first quarter.
Graham, fellow junior Ryleigh Nelson, and sophomore Jenna Doctor each recorded hat tricks and they accounted for four of the team's six goals in the second period. Freshman Emma Sharp and sophomore Savannah Frauhiger also struck in the period as the visitors increased their advantage to 8-2 at halftime.
After closing out the first half scoring, Frauhiger netted her 17th of the season to start the second. Graham raised her team-high total on the year to 47 and Nelson answered a goal from the Bennies late in the third and the score was 11-3 with 15 minutes to play.
Sharp's second of the day gave her 14 this year and Doctor's third and fourth raised her season total to 43. Nelson, who also set up two tallies in the game, completed her hat trick and now has 60 points on 29 goals and 31 assists this spring. Junior Lila Beckwith's second of 2023 put the final touches on the 10-goal triumph.
Lake Forest sophomore goalie Calliope Saban turned away nine of the Bennies' 14 shots on goal for a .643 save percentage on the day.
Graham led all players with five draw controls and she had the same number of ground balls to share game-high honors with Nelson.
The Foresters evened their record on the year at 9-9 while Saint Benedict's season ends at 11-3.
Lake Forest advances to the NCAA Tournament and will find out who and where they will be playing during the NCAA Division III Women's Lacrosse selection show on NCAA.com Monday at 9:30 a.m. (CT).