Evanston Field Hockey Earns 4th At State

A record season for Evanston's field hockey team ended with a bit of a thud Saturday at the Illinois High School Field Hockey Association state tournament hosted by Glenbrook North High School.

But a 2-0 loss to Loyola Academy in the third place game --- and a 3-0 loss to New Trier in last Thursday's semifinals --- couldn't dim the luster of the accomplishments for the Wildkits in 2026.

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Coach Annie Lesch's team established a new school single season record for victories, finishing 16-8 overall, and reached the Final Four for the second time in program history. The back-to-back playoff losses still enabled ETHS to match the fourth place postseason showing back in 2023.

And while other programs in Illinois might have regarded Evanston's first trip back in 2023 as a possible fluke, there's no doubt now that Lesch has built the program into one that is going to contend for a Final Four spot on an annual basis.

That's why both New Trier and Lake Forest --- powerhouse programs that between them have won nearly all of the state championships in the sport in Illinois --- added extra games against ETHS to their schedules this year. They weren't looking for a pushover, they were looking for a challenge.

"I think we've closed the gap (on the top teams)," Lesch said while the players posed for pictures with the State trophy. "That win over Lake Forest was big for us and they're playing in the finals.

"We beat Lake Forest this year and we know we belong here. It's huge that we were able to get here again, and when we look back of the season, we'll be proud of this accomplishment. Both New Trier and Lake Forest asked to play us twice this year, instead of just once, and that shows that they consider us a pretty good team.

"I think it's also really significant that we had leaders like Olive Lessman and Maggie Bird, who were on the varsity as freshman and led us back to the Final Four. To make it twice in their four years is really an accomplishment, too."

Bird said she was proud to make it back to the Final Four, but lamented Evanston's lack of offense in both season-ending defeats.

"Our defense killed it today, but we needed more opportunities in the circle (corner restarts)," said the senior co-captain. "We needed to create more opportunities instead of relying on other teams to make mistakes, like we've done in some other games.

"Just to be here (at the Final Four) is a privilege. This is the most well-rounded team in the state even though we don't have any (college) commits like some of the other top teams. Every single person plays a role on this team, and I'm so proud of us. I couldn't have asked for a better senior year.

"By the end of the year I think the top teams were afraid of us because we're so unpredictable. Today our defensive corner team played amazing --- Evie Holstine is the strongest and fastest 'fly' in the state of Illinois --- and for us to only give up one goal today on all of those corners was great."

Holstine, one of four underclassmen in the starting lineup, was credited with four blocked shots and a steal as a corner defender as the Kits foiled the Ramblers on 9 of 10 corner attempts.

The Ramblers did net their first goal on a corner, on a tip-in by Maia Later in the second quarter, and another deflection by Megan Meehan for the Ramblers in the third period proved too much for the losers to overcome.

Evanston didn't muster even a single shot on goal until the fourth quarter, when Bird was denied twice by Loyola goalie Cece Maloney.

Lack of offense was also an issue for the Wildkits in the semifinal loss to New Trier, the third time this season that the Trevians chalked up a shutout in the head-to-head rivalry.

New Trier led just 1-0 at halftime, on a goal by Georgia Burne, then sealed the victory with second half goals by Natalie Paul in the third quarter and Burne again in the fourth quarter.

"We felt very much in it when it was 1-0 (for 41 minutes), but you can't win if you can't score, and you can't score if you don't shoot," Lesch acknowledged. "We needed to put more pressure on them, but that is the best we've played against them all season.

"Defensively I think we should feel good about the way we played. We had our forwards (Kate Mackey, Bird) play more on defense and we asked them to cover a lot of field today. We tried to double team them outside the circle and we did a good job of that, led by (junior) Melia Seyferth. She played a great game."