Girls lacrosse: Downers Grove North pulls away from Wheaton United in second half

Second-half consistency has been a challenge for the Downers Grove North girls lacrosse team so far this season.

But that problem appears on its way to being solved.

The Trojans took 13 shots in the second half Monday against Wheaton United and scored on 8 of them.

That broke a 4-4 halftime tie and allowed Downers North to traipse away with a 12-6 win and improve to 3-3.

"In the past couple of games, we've been up and down with our second halves," said junior midfielder Maeve Cook, who had 3 goals Monday. "I think we came out really strong this half. Our transitions really got us. We would get it from behind the goal and be able to have those long passes and be able to catch them and throw them perfectly. We were so consistent with that."

Added senior attack Emma Svoboda, who netted 4 goals, "We started the game with the mindset that we wanted to win and we wanted to be a second-half team, because that's what we struggle with."

Wheaton United (2-3) actually held a 5-4 lead early in the second half thanks to a goal by senior attack Andersen Lewellyan, but Cook and Svoboda turned things around for good shortly after.

With 21:33 to go in the game, Cook drove center, juked a defender and fired a shot top shelf that tied the game. A little over a minute later Svoboda did the same thing, this time depositing a shot into the upper left corner of the net.

At 18:13 Downers North junior Hailey Grubich took a pass from sophomore attack Madeline Shallmoser coming down the middle, turned and fired a tomahawk-like shot into the center of the net. That gave the Trojans a 7-5 lead.

But if you think it was all offense for Downers North, guess again. Wheaton United sophomore Tate Stokesberry scored 3 goals in the first half, but Cook and senior midfielder Karli Kwityn, among others, helped hold her scoreless in the second half.

Of course turnovers didn't help Wheaton United either, especially considering it won the draw battle 12-5, thanks mostly to the efforts of Lewellyan.

"They played a really tight defense on us and mistakes will lose you the game," Wheaton United coach Paul Ciufo said. "It was a tale of two halves. The second half, they took over, and we made the mistakes."

Stokesberry was solid in the last 11 minutes of the first half, scoring a pair of penalty-shot goals and the third a point-blank shot after receiving a pass from Lewellyan behind the net.

"Definitely, first half we were working better as a team," she said. "People were cutting for each other and everyone was trying to share the ball, and we had our heads up really high."

Downers North outshot Wheaton United 24-12 and had a 50 percent scoring percentage. Six players scored as well.

"We're looking to get everyone to go to goal, not just one or two people," Downers North coach Taylor Sopron said. "We're looking to get as many people shooting and assisting as we can a game."