With the No. 2 seed in the Midwest Conference Tournament up for grabs, Lake Forest scored four against Knox to earn a bye in the first round of the postseason.
The Foresters dominated on set pieces, scoring three of their four goals from corner kicks. It started in the 19th minute, when
Annabelle Schroeder found the end of a
Maggie Balas corner kick to put the Foresters up 1-0. In the final five seconds of the first half, Lake Forest found a second goal on a corner, as
Kyra Lilly headed home a delivery from
Veronica Presberg.
Five minutes after the break, Balas picked up the ball deep in the midfield and made a run past the Knox backline, firing into the bottom right corner to put the Foresters up by three. Twenty minutes later, Lilly scored her second of the game, this time assisted by Balas. The junior from Bolingbrook finished the game with four points (one goal and two assists), her most since a five-point outing against Cornell on September 20.
The Foresters outshot Knox 17-9, as
Sara Swenson and
Maddie Geasey combined for the team's 12th shutout of the season.
With the win, Lake Forest secures a bye and the No. 2 seed in the Midwest Conference Tournament. After the quarterfinal rounds in the midweek, Lake Forest heads to Decorah, Iowa, to participate in the tournament.
