Courtesy Lake Forest Athletics
GAMBIER, Ohio--The Forester women's lacrosse team was defeated 14-8 by DePauw University Saturday afternoon in the first round of the NCAA Division III Tournament.
The teams traded short scoring runs throughout the first half, beginning with three consecutive goals for the Tigers.
Senior Emma Tryder started the first Lake Forest comeback, taking a pass from freshman Emma Sharp and scoring her eighth goal of the season with 1:34 to play in the first quarter.
Lake Forest junior Ryleigh Nelson came up with the opening draw of the second and found classmate Jenna Doctor, who scored just 11 seconds into the quarter. Doctor struck again midway through the period, beating the shot clock by a second and tying the game at three. Junior Ali Graham continued the run and her shot into the top-right corner of the goal put the Foresters on top with 6:03 on the clock.
DePauw drew even just 37 seconds later and regained the lead at the 3:52 mark.
Graham won the ensuing draw, raced past the Tiger defense and hit the upper-right corner of the net again just 10 second later, tying the game at five. The Foresters took a 6-5 lead into halftime, thanks to Nelson assisting Doctor again with 2:23 left in the second. It was Doctor's ninth hat trick and 46th goal of 2023.
DePauw netted the first three goals of the third before Nelson's 30th of the year made the score 8-7 with 6:52 on the clock. Two more tallies from the Tigers, the second with just 43 seconds left, gave them a 10-7 advantage with a quarter to play.
Graham finished off her hat trick on a free position shot with 11:37 to play. It was her 50th goal of the year and trimmed the DePauw lead back down to two.
Unfortunately for the Foresters, Graham's score was their last. The Tigers restored their three-goal cushion 61 seconds later and added three more scores by the end of the game.
Graham led the team with three draw controls, sophomore Savannah Frauhiger with three ground balls, and junior Caitlyn Dahut with a pair of caused turnovers. Sophomore goalie Calliope Saban stopped 13 of 23 shots on goal in the first three quarters and freshman Cecilia Adams added four more saves in the fourth.
Lake Forest finished the season with a 9-10 record while DePauw advances to a second round match-up with Kenyon at 12-5.