ST. PAUL, Minn. – The University of Northwestern Women's Lacrosse team had a tall task ahead of it on Saturday afternoon at Reynolds Field. Lake Forest College, one of the hottest teams in all of Division III Women's Lacrosse, was in town for the penultimate regular season conference game for each team. The Foresters entered the game on an 11-game winning streak and with a 3-0 Midwest Lacrosse Conference record. LFC proved it was no fluke, going on a first quarter scoring spree en route to an 18-3 win over Northwestern. The Eagles fell to 5-8 overall and 1-3 in the MLC with the loss.
Through three-and-a-half minutes, it appeared the game might be a tight one. After Lake Forest opened up the scoring at the 12:34 mark, UNW knotted it up less than a minute later thanks to a
Cara Smith (Watertown, Wis./Watertown) goal. Unfortunately for the home team, the Foresters went on a scoring barrage to close out the quarter and led 10-1 through 15 minutes of play.
The second quarter was a far cry from the high-scoring first, as Lake Forest scored twice and Northwestern zero times, producing a 12-1 halftime score. LFC scored the first three goals of the third quarter as well before Smith found the back of the cage for the second time, courtesy of a
Maddie Hauer (Wausau, Wis./Wausau West) assist. The Foresters tacked on one more goal before the end of the quarter and took a 16-2 advantage into the fourth.
The fourth quarter was similar to the second in its low-scoring nature. Lake Forest scored twice and it appeared the remaining 9:44 of play would go scoreless, but
Emma Snyder (Cottage Grove, Minn./Park) had other ideas. The senior took a pass from Hauer and slung it home with 44 seconds left to finish the game in style.
Smith was terrific on both ends for UNW, scoring two goals and causing three turnovers. Hauer dished out two assists while tying for the team high in ground balls with three. Snyder added a goal to round out the offensive effort.
Maren Reu (Sioux Falls, S.D./Sioux Falls Christian) and
Reegan Duininck (Prinsburg, Minn./Central Minnesota Christian) were both rock-solid on defense with three ground balls apiece. Reu also caused four turnovers while Duininck, who is coming off an MLC Defensive Player of the Week performance last weekend, caused two.
Lauren Paar (Centerville, Minn./Centennial) finished with a game-high seven draw controls, while
Emma Ruegemer (Cold Spring, Minn./Eden Valley-Watkins),
Annika Dykstra (New Brighton, Minn./Avail Academy) and
Daisy Koffler (Pine City, Minn./Pine City) each grabbed a pair of ground balls. Koffler also made 17 saves in cage as Lake Forest peppered her with 35 shots on goal and 43 total shots.
The Eagles will stay on campus for their next game on Wednesday, April 24
th. It will be the final home game for UNW Women's Lacrosse so be sure to come out and support Northwestern as it takes on UW-Stevens Point at 7:00 PM!
