The Lake Forest College women's lacrosse team led 10-2 by the end of the first quarter and continued pulling away for a 21-7 victory over visiting Edgewood College in Saturday's Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference Tournament Final.

Sophomore Ella Maher gave the Foresters the lead for good just 48 seconds into the contest and scored a career-high four goals on the day. She also picked up a team-high five ground balls and added four draw controls and three caused turnovers.

Senior Jenna Doctor had a hat trick in the opening period and struck seven times on the day. She entered the contest ranked third in the nation with 90 goals this spring, easily the highest single-season total in team history.

The first quarter also featured the 100th career assist for Forester junior Emma Sharp, who set up six goals and scored two of her own in the game. She started the day ranked fourth in the country with 3.94 assists and seventh with 6.82 points per game and raised both of those averages.

Senior Abby Meyer turned in her second straight hat trick and fourth this season while leading the team with six draw controls and four caused turnovers.

Senior Savannah Frauhiger and juniors Claire Aimone and Shannon Gibbons each caused three turnovers and Gibbons added two goals and two assists on the day.

Additional goals for the home team came from junior Daulath Khan and senior Ashley Carr and the latter also had a career-high four assists.

Junior goalkeeper Cecilia Adams made a pair of saves in the first half and freshman Cy Nash chipped in with one more in the second.

Lake Forest had a significant statistical edge in nearly every category, out-shooting the Eagles 45-13, securing 28 of the game's 41 ground balls, and committing just 13 turnovers to Edgewood's 24. The Foresters were also 14-fo-16 on the clear while the visitors were just 7-for-15.

The Foresters improved to 14-4 while Edgewood finished its season 10-8.

Along with the conference tournament title comes the league's automatic bid to the NCAA Division III Tournament, which will begin next weekend. Where Lake Forest goes and who the team will face in the opening round will be revealed during the tournament selection show on NCAA.com Monday at 9:30 a.m. (CT)

The Foresters will be making their third consecutive appearance in the NCAA Tournament.