The Lake Forest College women's soccer team hosted and defeated Wisconsin Lutheran College 9-0 on Tuesday in the season opener for both teams. The victory was the 200th for Forester Head Coach T.R. Bell in his 19th year with the program.
Bell's overall record now stands at 200-117-10. He has the most victories of any current coach on the Forester Athletic Department staff and is the fifth in the history of the College with 200 wins in any sport, joining Director of Athletics and former women's basketball coach Jackie Slaats (386), former men's hockey coach Tony Fritz (351), former volleyball coach Beth Pier (252), and former men's basketball coach Chris Conger (201).
The official game-winning goal on Tuesday was scored five minutes and 22 seconds into the contest by senior forward Michelle Greeneway. She took a through-ball from sophomore midfielder Kayla Wuest and netted the 75th score of her career.
Senior forward Holly Lesperance was the next Forester to score less than three minutes after Greeneway. She was assisted by junior midfielder Nina Perkkio, who also netted a goal of her own at 19:33.
After 30 minutes of scoreless play that lasted into the second half, the home team erupted for three goals in a 61-second span. Wuest started the barrage at the 50:19 mark with Greeneway picking up an assist. Perkkio then set up senior midfielder Ellen Rogers at 50:43 and Lesperance finished off the trio of scores at 51:20. Her second score of the contest was set up by a long pass into the box by senior defender Sam Hillis and a headed pass by Greeneway. It was the 41st career goal for Lesperance, who passed up Becky Esrock for fourth place in program history in that category.
Hillis assisted on sophomore forward Mimi Vaintrub's goal at 59:45 to move into third place in team history with 35 career assists, two shy of the school record. Junior midfielder Kyle Chavarria added another score just 71 seconds later, with freshman forward Charlotte Jackson assisting on the play. Sophomore forward Sami Troost's first career goal at 80:38 closed out the scoring. Sophomore midfielder Schyler Isham assisted on the score.
Lake Forest junior goalkeeper Rachel Tenuta earned her eighth career shutout, which is tied for fourth in team annals.
The Foresters' next game will be played on Sunday at 1:00 p.m. against visiting Edgewood College.
