Injuries Catch Up to Lake Forest Girls at State Tourney

's girls' lacrosse team brought a seven-match winning streak into the final four of the Illinois High School Women’s Lacrosse Association state tournament.

However, they also brought an ailing roster.

The latter proved to be too much to overcome in a 12-6 loss to Hinsdale Central in Friday's third-place match at Northwestern University's Lakeside Field.

• Senior Abby Sirus, the team’s top defender, went down with a concussion in the opening round of the sectional.

• Senior All-American Hannah Geldermann suffered a similar fate in the next round.

• Then, while playing with Team Illinois in a national tournament last weekend, junior All-American Izzy Montagne, who already has committed to play at Duke, went down with a separated shoulder.

“That (Montagne’s injury) put the final nail in the coffin,’’ said first-year head coach Julie Levy.

Playing with Pride

A 19-4 thrashing by second-seeded New Trier in Wednesday’s state semifinal set up the Scouts (18-4 overall) for a third-place battle with Hinsdale Central. The Scouts posted a 13-12 double overtime win during their earlier meeting, but this time the results were much different.

“Having those three players would have made a different game,’’ Levy said. “But you do what you gotta do. The girls gave 110 percent and played with pride.’’

Junior Katie Sullivan put the Scouts on top 1-0 with a drive from the 8-meter circle just seven minutes into the match. However, the Red Devils answered eight seconds later, when Amy O’Grady drove in on Scout goalie Kallie Fieldhaus and buried the ball in the net. O’Grady scored again at the 15:05 mark and the Scouts were in a chase mode the rest of the way.

A pinpoint pass from junior Brenna Carberry to Amanda McMahon resulted in a tie score 19 seconds later. However, Hinsdale Central closed the half with three straight scores, two from Jacquie Edwards, to take a 5-2 halftime edge.

No Comeback

If the Scouts had any thoughts of a comeback in the second half, the Red Devils quickly extinguished them. Three straight Hinsdale scores built a six-goal deficit before sophomore Emily Cavalaris ended the drought with a nice spin through the Red Devil defense with 20:08 remaining.

As turnovers mounted on the Scouts’ offensive end, Hinsdale Central kept catching  out of position at the other end of the field. Goals by Alex Olsen and Christian, her second, gave the Red Devils a comfortable 10-2 advantage heading into the final 14 minutes, where McMahon, Cavalaris and Emily George sandwiched goals around two more Hinsdale scores.

“Katie (Sullivan) and Emily (Cavalaris) gave us All-American hustle and Carberry was very active throughout the game,’’ Levy said. “I thought Kallie played a very good game in goal. It was a tough game for her because our defense kept getting caught out of position. You have to get through 11 players to get to the goalie, and Hinsdale was doing that tonight.’’

Lack of Communication

Fieldhaus, a sophomore in her first season on the varsity, agreed the Scouts failed to talk more on the defensive end.

“I still feel it’s been a very good year," she said. I came out of my shell a lot this year as far as stepping up and directing my teammates. It was almost unfair to our three injured players to have us count on them so much. We should have done better today.’’

“We just didn’t take advantage of the opportunities we had,’’ added Sullivan while clutching the fourth-place trophy. “We needed to settle more into our offense and make better passes. Hinsdale Central kept its defense high and tight and beat us to most of the 50-50 balls. We lost our final game, but fourth is a lot better than most teams can claim."

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