The Lake Forest College women's lacrosse team hosted and defeated the University of Northwestern-St Paul 10-7 Wednesday afternoon in the semifinals of the Midwest Women's Lacrosse Conference Tournament.
The Foresters were the home team due to their 9-7 victory over the Eagles on Saturday. The teams had entered the regular season finale tied-for-second in the standings.
After finishing Saturday's contest with a goal and two assists, Lake Forest junior Ryleigh Nelson scored four times and added another helper on Wednesday. She now has 26 goals and a league-high 29 assists on the season.
Six other players on the team netted a goal apiece, beginning with sophomore Krissy Kuwahara just 19 seconds into the game. A successful free position shot by sophomore Abby Meyer and the team-high 44th goal of the year for junior Ali Graham made it a 3-0 game after seven minutes of play. Northwestern finally got on the scoreboard at the 2:57 mark and Lake Forest led 3-1 after the first quarter.
The Foresters out-shot their guests 13-4 in the second and accounted for all three of the period's goals. Nelson netted the first two and sophomore Jenna Doctor raised her total on the season to 39, giving the home team a 6-1 halftime edge.
The Eagles made things interesting on multiple occasions in the second half. They scored the first two goals of the third quarter but Nelson assisted Savannah Frauhiger at the 5:20 mark before securing her fifth career hat trick a couple of minutes later.
Senior Emma Tryder extended Lake Forest's lead to 9-3 early in the fourth but four consecutive Northwestern goals trimmed the margin to two with two-and-a-half minutes left. The comeback bid ended there, however, and Nelson's fourth of the day clinched the victory with 28 seconds on the clock.
Forester sophomore goalie Calliope Saban stopped 7 of the Eagles' 10 shots on goal in the first three periods to earn the victory. Freshman Cecelia Adams added six more saves in the fourth.
Senior Bliss Pekkala led Lake Forest with a career-high four caused turnovers and was one of six Foresters sharing team-high honors in ground balls with three.
Lake Forest is now 8-9 and Northwestern 10-6 on the season. The Foresters advance to the MWLC Tournament final for the second time in as many seasons as a varsity sport. Their opponent and the location of the game will be determined by the result of the other semifinal later on Wednesday.
