Girls lacrosse: Conant nips Schaumburg

Three critical plays in Conant's girls lacrosse win at Schaumburg Thursday night went the Cougars' way.

In a physical, intense, emotion-filled game Conant came out on top 11-10 over the Saxons in the Mid-Suburban West contest before a rousing crowd.

"I think this was the most intense game of the year for both of our teams," said Conant coach Eric Jacobsen.

Schaumburg's Emily Dill tied the game 10-10 with 1:53 left in the game on a penalty shot.

Moments later the Saxons' defense recovered a ground ball at midfield and Schaumburg was looking for the go-ahead goal.

Conant 's Abby Alcantara (8 saves) caught the ball for a save with 1:30 left in the game.

"The defense kept the shooter far enough away so that when she shot I was able to follow the ball," said Alcantara. "It was one of the biggest saves I made all year."

Mackenzie Lunkens (2 goals), who had made a penalty shot with four minutes left in the game for a 10-8 Cougar lead, had another opportunity with 45 seconds left.

Lunkens' shot went wide right but an alert Ashley Cyr recovered the ball past the net. Cyr passed the ball to Hannah Shulman, who raced around the left side of the goal and in a spinning motion banked the ball in off the left goal post for the winner with 34 seconds to go.

Lunkens won the face off for Conant, now 6-8 and 2-2 in conference play, which then ran out the clock.

"From my position," said Cyr, "I had to be sure I got the miss, pick it up and get it to one of my teammates. It was a really big play."

Shulman, who scored 5 goals, took solace in scoring the game winner.

"I was mad at myself for getting a yellow card," said Shulman. "On the play that I scored I was double-teamed. I ran past the goal and shot and I was lucky that it banked in. Cyr's recovery of the missed shot was big. It was one of the little things that helped us win the game."

Schaumburg (4-5, 2-2) trailed 9-6 with 14:10 after a Shulman goal.

Shulman received a yellow card, which was followed by another yellow card given to Jacobsen.

The Saxons took advantage of the Cougars being down two players to score goals by Monica Rogalski and Audrey Warner, who played a terrific game and scored 4 goals. With 7:42 left in the game Conant led 9-8.

"We made some early mistakes in the game that were costly," said Schaumburg coach Jake Hughes. "This is one that we would have liked to win. When we play each other it always seems that it goes down to the last minute."

"I give Abby a lot of credit," said Jacobsen. "She really hung tough and made some really good saves for us. Cyr's play was so big. We had talked just moments before during a time out that we had to control the 50-50 balls. Earlier in the year she might have been hesitant but now she plays like a seasoned veteran."