After beating Warren on April 24, the Evanston Township High School girls lacrosse team hoped to carry their momentum into an April 30 matchup with Glenbrook South, the No. 4- ranked team in the State.
Going into that game, the Wildkits knew they were going to have their hands full, and they did, as the Titans won 15-5 at Lazier Field in Evanston. Trailing 9-2 at halftime, the Kits scored twice to get within 9-4 early in the second half. But that was as close as they would get. The Titans scored the next three goals to take a 12-4 lead with 18 minutes and 35 seconds remaining.
From there, junior midfielder Rachel Kornbluh scored her second goal of the game with eight minutes and five seconds remaining, making it a 12-5 contest. But after Kornbluh’s goal, the Titans once again scored three unanswered goals and held the Kits scoreless the rest of the way, the visitors prevailing 15-5 at game’s end.
Leading the way for the Kits were Kornbluh and senior midfielder/captain Kate Pingry, who each scored two goals. Sophomore attacker Dillon Woodward also tallied a goal, and senior midfielder/captain Joan Gibbons added an assist for the hosts.
With the loss, the Kits’ record fell to 7-6 overall. But even though the outcome was not what they had hoped for, head coach Sarah McKenna was pleased with how her team performed against one of the top-ranked teams in the State.
“I think they played really well. We had some great defense, some great goalie play and our checkers came up big, and we got a lot of shots on goal that went in,” said McKenna. “GBS is a really good team. They are the number four team in the state right now, so coming away with a game like that is really good for us. So we are really excited.” Summing up Kornbluh’s performance, McKenna said, “Rachel is doing great. She scored a lot of goals for us, so she must have been our go-to girl.”
With the Kits’ record above the .500 mark, McKenna is pleased with how her team has played so far this season, especially given the number of young players on the roster. “The season is going well,” said McKenna. “We are a really young team this year. We had 11 new players on our team and a lot of sophomores [and] only five seniors. We will return 17 girls next year, so we are really excited about the way they are turning out and how our young players are playing this year.”
The Kits went on to beat Deerfield 10-4 on May 2 and beat Regina 19-3 on May 5. In that game, sophomore midfielder Addie del Angel, sophomore attacker Beth Parcell and Woodward each scored three goals apiece. With the victory, the Kits improved to 9-6 overall.
Next up, the Kits take on archrival New Trier on May 8, followed by Montini on May 10. Then they wrap up the regular season with matchups against Marian Catholic on May 14 and Mother McAuley on May 15. The Kits open the Illinois High School Womens Lacrosse Association state tournament on May 19.
In order for the Kits to finish the regular season strong and make a lengthy postseason run, McKenna says the team must continue to play the way they did against GBS. “We just have to keep playing like we did,” said the Coach. “[We need to keep] looking for the nice shot, taking our time on attack, looking for the open goal, playing some good solid defense and [getting] some big saves in the cage.”
If the Kits are able to do that, there is no telling how far they can go in the IHSWLA playoffs.