On Wednesday, April 17, the varsity girls lacrosse team fought hard in a tough game against the Lake Forest Scouts, ending with an 18-5 loss.
At the start of the game, the Scouts scored four goals, but the Wildcats stepped up with junior Siyani McNeely (24) scoring the first goal for Libertyville.
“I think [scoring] that first goal turned everybody’s energy around,” McNeely said. “Everybody’s head turned and we realized that we got this.”
Following McNeely’s goal, senior attacker and midfielder Carli Bance (14) scored twice, making her the team’s lead scorer for the night along with senior midfielder Sophia Weick (13).. Both goals were scored in the first quarter, the second one scored mere seconds before the end. The Wildcats were able to narrow the gap, ending the first quarter with a score of 6-3.
The Wildcats started the second quarter with a goal from Weick. Following the goal, the second quarter slowed down, with many attempted shots by the wildcats and a lot of standstills. The Scouts fought back and closed the second quarter with a score of 10-4.

“We like to switch up the draw when [Lake Forest] switches up their draw,” Weick said. “That sometimes works in our favor.”
The Wildcats were not able to score any more goals in the third quarter, but still had multiple runs down the field. Freshman Malak Mohammed (8) and senior Leah Chung (4) had a great clearance and run throughout the game.
As the game came to a close, Weick was able to score another goal, ending the game with a score of 18-5.
Freshman goalie Mary Minogue (26) was the MVP for the night, amassing over 20 saves throughout the game. Minogue said that the energy of her teammates helped propel her throughout the game.
“Everyone was just really hyped up and [our] team came together and had a good time,” Minogue said.
Head Coach Andra Dalton said Minogue played very well.
“Mary had a great game in goal,” Coach Dalton said. “[She] racked up 20 saves against a top 10 team in state.”
Despite their loss, the team’s performance exceeded previous games against the Scouts.
“This was the most aggressive game we played from start to finish,” Coach Dalton said. “We played with a level of intensity that we haven’t played with yet this season.”
Moving forward, Coach Dalton hopes the team will “build off of what we saw tonight.”
Following a win over the Naperville Central Redhawks on Saturday, April 20, the Wildcats will next play the Resurrection Bandits on Monday, April 22.