The Lake Forest College women's lacrosse team is making its second consecutive appearance in the NCAA Division III Tournament and will take on the University of Scranton at Denison University in Saturday's opening round.
Lake Forest qualified for the postseason by posting a dramatic 15-14 victory at the College of Saint Benedict in the Midwest Women's Lacrosse Conference Tournament Final last Saturday. The Foresters scored the game-winning goal with just 26.9 seconds on the clock. They won six of seven league games during the regular season and defeated Cornell College 16-7 in the semifinals of the MLC Tournament last Wednesday. Saturday's triumph improved their overall record to 14-3.
Ranked 22nd in the nation, Scranton is 16-3 overall and finished first in the Landmark Conference standings with an 8-1 record in the league. The Royals defeated Juniata College 14-7 and Catholic University 12-5 to win the Landmark Conference Tournament and advance to the NCAA Tourney for the second year in a row and the fourth time in program history.
The Foresters enter the tournament with 14 victories in their last 15 games while Scranton has won 13 of 14.
Senior Ryleigh Nelson leads Lake Forest and ranks among the top 10 in the nation with 115 points and 62 assists. Junior Jenna Doctor has scored a team-high 75 goals and ranks 17th in the country in that category. Senior Ali Graham has 43 goals and 21 assists while sophomore Emma Sharp has scored 28 times and added 24 assists.
The versatile Graham has also excelled other statistical categories, leading the Foresters with 50 ground balls, 87 draw controls, and 42 caused turnovers. Junior Savannah Frauhiger is next on the team with 44 ground balls and 31 caused turnovers and freshman Ella Maher with 47 draw controls.
Sophomore Cecilia Adams, the team's primary goalie, made 10 saves in each of the Foresters' MLC Tournament games and owns a 9.88 goals against average.
Grace Lane leads Scranton with 69 points and 56 goals while Devyn Tanajewski paces the squad with 23 assists and has scored 20 times. Erin Reich has 42 goals and a dozen assists and four other Royals have between 28 and 37 points..
Nicolina Moura has picked up 45 ground balls and Eileen Hewitt 78 draw controls while Jillian Lopez is second on the team in both categories with 44 and 59. Grace Dabulas leads Scranton in caused turnovers with 27 and Karina Roettger is next with 22.
Goalie Lauren Boldis ranks 26th in the nation with an 8.54 goals against average.
Lake Forest's Casey Ryan is in her first year at the team's head coach while Scranton's Chrissy Trescavage is 66-28 in her sixth season at Scranton and 99-98 in 12 seasons as a collegiate head coach.
Saturday's meeting will take place at Kienzle-Hylbert Stadium on the campus of Denison University with the opening draw scheduled for 2:00 p.m. (ET) The weather forecast calls for temperatures in the low 60s with the possibility of rain.
The winner will take on Denison (14-4) at the same time on Sunday.
