Girls lacrosse: Conant gets past Naperville Central
Both Conant and Naperville Central's girls lacrosse teams were looking for a needed win Thursday night in Hoffman Estates.
The host Cougars were looking for a bounce back win after losing a close decision to Resurrection Tuesday, while the Redhawks were looking to end the regular season with a win.
In the end, in a tight contest, Conant edged Naperville Central 13-12 in a nonconference battle.
Senior Abbey DiSalvo (3 goals) scored the go-ahead goal with 1:47 left on an assist from Betsy Riley to break the tie.
"Betsy passed me the ball and I caught it on my right," said DiSalvo. "I then turned and shot left and the ball went in. I'm excited with the win, but sad that this was the last regular season on our home field. But it ended on a good note."
The Cougars (11-10) will play on their home turf in the sectional tournament Monday against Geneva.
The Redhawks (4-14) put together a strong effort and coach Kevin Kloss was proud of his team.
"It was a very competitive game for us," said Kloss. "We stayed with them to the end. Their pressure bothered us midway through the second half and we didn't make some good decisions."
Trailing Conant 5-2 with 8:20 left in the first half, Naperville Central put together a 9-1 run that gave it an 11-6 lead on Kerani Patel's goal with 15:32 left in the game.
Elle Friess scored all 4 of her goals in the run. Lane Baldacci (2 goals, 2 assists) and Alexis Romanelli (3 goals) each scored twice in that span.
Conant coach Eric Jacobsen called time out after Patel's goal.
"I wasn't even aware of what the score was at that time," said Jacobsen. "I wanted to push the team to play harder and make things happen. For us to come back trailing by that much as a big step."
Mackenzie Lunkens started the Cougars' 5-0 run by scoring twice. Conant tied the score at 11 on Gabby Iwanska's goal on an assist from Ashley Cyr.
Eliana Benis's goal with 3:40 left in the game on an assist from Friess gave the Redhawks a 12-11 lead.
Moments later Friess received her second yellow card and Naperville Central had to play short-handed for the rest of the game.
Iwanska scored on an assist from Lunkens to tie it at 12 before DiSalvo scored the go-ahead goal.
Hannah Shulman added 2 goals and had 3 assists for Conant.
"After losing Tuesday we wanted to come out ready," said Riley. "Sometimes we slip and forget our fundamentals early in the game. Today we had a lapse in the middle of the first half. The time out that coach called got us going. The defense tightened up and we kept them out of the middle. Our fans started cheering us on and we came back."
"Abbey does the little things it takes for us to win," said Jacobsen. "And Betsy, she might not be the biggest or the fastest but she's smart and makes great decisions."