Contact: Lou Groce, Director of Media and Information, 920-229-8157
GRINNELL, Iowa – Lake Forest College will host the Midwest Conference women’s soccer tournament for the second straight season on Nov. 6 and 7 after winning the league’s regular season championship. The Foresters will entertain Knox College, Carroll University and St. Norbert College this weekend.
Tournament Page
The opening match of the two-day tournament will feature the Green Knights of St. Norbert and the Pioneers of Carroll. The Green Knights’ Katie Vanden Avond became NCAA Division III’s all-time leading goal scorer earlier this fall and leads the country with 39 this season. The senior also leads the nation in points (81) and has eight game-winners. Monica Stephans has been feeding Vanden Avond all season and is tied for second in the country with 15 assists. She has also added seven goals on just nine shots on goal. Off the bench, Dana Schwag has scored six times, which is third-best on the team. In goal, Maddie Plinska has played every second this season, making 126 saves and producing five shutouts.
The Green Knights beat the Pioneers by a 2-1 score way back on Sept. 26., but the Pioneers have been red hot lately, winning their last six matches by a combined score of 24-1. The one goal, was after Carroll had taken a 4-0 lead over Beloit College last Wednesday. Sabrina Sieger has been one of the top goalkeepers in the league this year. She has the best goals against average (0.62) and leads the league with nine shutouts. Offensively, Delany Pruitt and Rachel Van Sluys have carried the load. Van Sluys has found the back of the net 20 times this fall, with Pruitt scoring 14 times and passing out 10 assists.
It has been quite the turnaround for Knox this season. After finishing 3-14 overall and 0-10 in the MWC, the Prairie Fire have improved to 12-4-2 overall and 5-3-2 in conference to earn the No. 4 seed this weekend and a date with the hosts. Jen Crary and Yvette Rodriguez will be counted on offensively as Crary has scored seven goals, while Rodgriguez has four goals and six assists. Sierra Daniger will have a difficult task in stopping the Foresters’ potent offense, but made nine saves in the clubs’ first meeting. Daniger has six shutouts so far in 2015 and a goals against average of just 0.89.
The Prairie Fire tied the Foresters in the opening weekend of Midwest Conference action, and it turned out to be the only blemish on Lake Forest’s conference slate. The Foresters finished the MWC regular season 9-0-1 and 14-2-2 overall. Michelle Greeneway, last season’s Offensive Player of the Year, leads the attack with 30 goals and six assists, while Holly Lesperance has netted 13 goals and six assists. Nina Perkkio and Sam Hillis have also been critical to the offensive output as they have 13 and 11 assists, respectively. Rachel Tenuta and Kaylee Price have split action in goal this fall. Tenuta has made nine starts to Price’s eight. Tenuta also has produced six shutouts and has the better goals against average at 1.07 to 1.29.
The winners of the two semifinals will meet at 12:00 p.m. on Saturday for the Midwest Conference Tournament Championship and the league's automatic berth in the NCAA Tournament.