LAKE FOREST, Ill. – University of Northwestern Women's Lacrosse traveled to Lake Forest College for a Midwest Women's Lacrosse Conference Tournament Semifinal battle on Wednesday afternoon. The No. 3 tournament seed Eagles put together a four-goal rally late in the game but ultimately fell 10-7 to the No. 2 Foresters, closing out their 2023 season in the conference playoffs.
Lake Forest jumped ahead to a 3-0 lead in the first seven minutes.
Ava Whitcomb (Otsego, Minn./Rogers) put the Eagles on the scoreboard in the closing minutes of the first frame, scoring the first of her team-high four goals in the game.
The Foresters scored thrice in the second quarter to take a 6-1 lead into halftime.
In the third quarter, Whitcomb scored back-to-back goals to notch a hat trick and bring Northwestern back within three, trailing 6-3. Lake Forest responded with two goals of their own in the back half of the third period to go up 8-3 heading into the final 15 minutes.
LFC scored early in the fourth quarter to go up 9-3 with 10:08 remaining. Though they trailed late in the game, the Eagles were not about to let their season end without leaving it all on the field.
Whitcomb lit the match that kickstarted a late offensive surge for Northwestern by scoring her fourth goal of the game with just under nine minutes remaining, cutting the Lake Forest lead down to 9-4.
Cara Smith (Watertown, Wis./Watertown) followed three minutes later, scoring to cut the Foresters' lead down to four with 5:44 remaining. Just one minute and nine seconds later, Smith scored a second goal to cut the Eagles' deficit down to just three with 4:47 on the game clock.
Two minutes later,
Maddie Hauer (Wausau, Wis./Wausau West) capitalized on a player-up opportunity with the fourth-consecutive UNW goal in the past six and a half minutes, cutting the Forester lead down to just 9-7 with 2:36 remaining.
The Eagle's thrilling late-game scoring run was eventually severed when Lake Forest scored one last goal with 28 seconds remaining, helping Lake Forest hang on to take the game 10-7.
On defense,
Maren Reu (Sioux Falls, S.D./Sioux Falls Christian) led UNW with three caused turnovers.
Daisy Koffler (Pine City, Minn./Pine City) had 12 saves in goal for the Eagles.
Northwestern finished their 2023 season with a 10-6 overall record, going 5-2 in conference play to finish third in the MWLC. The Eagles outscored their opponents 218-127 during the season. UNW also outperformed their opponents in shooting percentage (41.8-37.9), caused turnovers (233-187), and ground balls (444-345).
To keep up with all things UNW Women's Lacrosse, follow the team on Instagram at @unwwlax as well as right here at unweagles.com.
