LAKE FOREST, Ill. – Knights lacrosse was edged 9-7 by Lake Forest College in their first playoff game in program history on Wednesday, May 4. The Orange & Black close the season with a 4-12 record and a 2-3 mark in Midwest Women's Lacrosse Conference play.
Game Summary
The semifinal matchup got underway with Lake Forest scoring the first two goals. One minute after the Foresters' second goal,
Bri Greiskalns took a feed from
Mallory Thys and scored to make the game 2-1. After six minutes of scoreless play, Lake Forest added another goal with under a minute left in the period to make the score 3-1.
Krissy Kuwahara completed her hat trick after scoring two goals in the first five minutes of the second quarter to push the lead to 5-1. The Knights fought back with unassisted goals from
Britta Solheim and
Olivia Christianson and the score was 5-3 heading into the half.
The Foresters started the third quarter much like the second as they scored two goals within the first five minutes.
Beka Gershenoff stopped the run with her first goal of the game, but Lake Forest kept up a strong attack in the third and scored two more goals. The score was 9-4 heading to the final period.
Neither team could score to begin the fourth quarter, but with under seven minutes to play Greiskalns used the player-up advantage and scored to bring the Knights within four goals. Two minutes later Solheim scored her second goal to inch the Knights even closer. With 3:36 to play, Gershanoff scored again to bring the score to 9-7. Despite a great effort, there was not enough time left for Wartburg to complete the comeback and they fell 9-7.
The Orange & Black fell to Lake Forest 17-4 in the first meeting earlier this season and showed major improvements tonight from that first meeting to now.
Game Leaders
Three athletes scored two goals for the Knights today in Greiskalns, Gershenoff and Solheim.
Greiskalns finished the season with 45 goals and 15 assists for a total of 60 points this season. All three of those marks are second in their respective categories for season records. The fifth-year senior recorded four caused turnovers to secure a new Wartburg single-season record for caused turnovers with 44 total. Her 95 draw controls rank third all-time in a season and her 68 ground balls are second to her own record.
Solheim scored twice today to finish the season with 23 goals. She added four assists to close the season at 27 total points. Solheim picked up two ground balls today to close the season at 19.
Gershenoff scored in five of the last six games and finished with nine goal this season. The sophomore finished with 13 total points and five ground balls this season.
Thys' first quarter assist was her second of the season and she also added three goals this season.
Alyson Hasner closed her freshman season with 10 saves and five ground balls in today's loss. Hasner finishes the season with 135 saves through 13 starts, which ranks third all-time in Wartburg history. She logged 837:47 minutes in goal this season and finished with a 43.7% save percentage.
The Knights will look to build on this year's historic run next season.
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