The Lake Forest College women's soccer team hosted and defeated
Grinnell College 4-1 Saturday morning (October 24). The Foresters
are now 9-6-0 overall this season and 4-2-0 in Midwest Conference
play. The Pioneers fell to 6-10-1 overall and 3-4-1 in the
league.
Lake Forest freshman forward Becky Esrock (St. Louis, Mo./Whitfield
School) scored three goals in the game for her third "hat trick" of
the season. She started the scoring just 70 seconds into the
contest after taking a pass from senior Jocelyn Maneval (Fairfax,
Va./James W. Robinson), who had made an overlapping run from her
defensive position. The only Forester goal not scored by Esrock was
what turned out to be the game-winner, a header by junior Emily Weber (Cincinnati, Ohio/Seven Hills Upper School) off classmate
Bianca Greene's (Santa Monica, Calif./Santa Monica) corner kick at
25:00. It was Weber's first goal and Greene's team-high 12th assist
of the season.
Lake Forest attempted 16 shots without surrendering any to Grinnell
in the opening 45 minutes. "The first half was probably the best
soccer we have played all year," noted Forester head coach T.R.
Bell. "Everyone was on the same page both offensively and
defensively."
Esrock struck again just 31 seconds into the second half. She
scored off a pass from fellow freshman forward Lisa Sorensen
(Muskegon, Mich./Western Michigan Christian), who had beaten her
defender around the corner, come down the touch line, and laid the
ball back to Esrock. Sorensen also assisted on the final goal of
the contest, her shot from the left side was saved by the Grinnell
goalie but the rebound was kicked in by Esrock, who leads the
Foresters with 17 goals this season, just two shy of the team
record. The Pioneers netted their only goal with 16:45 to play in
the contest.
Lake Forest was out-shot 9-3 in the second half but three saves by
Forester freshman Bri Schleibinger (Spring Grove, Ill./Richmond
Burton) helped seal the victory and lower her goals against average
on the season to 1.75.
The Foresters will play at Beloit College tomorrow afternoon at
1:00. A victory would clinch a spot for them in the four-team MWC
Tournament November 6-7.
