Clark's Record 5 Goals Lead Kits To Sectional Finals

With her team’s offense sputtering a bit in the semifinals of the Loyola Academy Sectional tournament field hockey semifinals Tuesday night, Makayla Clark rose to the occasion.

The Evanston senior poured in a school record 5 goals as the Wildkits drilled Deerfield 8-0 and advanced to the championship game versus the host team. No. 4 seed Loyola eliminated Naperville North 6-0 in the other semifinal. The title game is set for 5 p.m. Friday.

Now one win away from a trip to the Final Four, the Wildkits scored their school single season record 13th victory and improved to 13-5-1 overall. One of those defeats was a 1-0 loss against Loyola.

Clark, as she has been all season for Evanston, was unstoppable for the 5th-seeded Wildkits. She scored once in the first quarter, again in the second quarter, and added 3 more tallies in the second half as the Kits broke the game open.

“Makayla really controlled the game tonight and gave a great second effort,” said ETHS head coach Annie Lesch. “At the beginning of the game we weren’t finishing --- it was only 1-0 after the first quarter and 2-0 for most of the second quarter --- and the way Makayla turned it on was just great.

“The game was starting to remind me of the GBS (Glenbrook South game) where they kept missing the cage and we were lucky it was just 1-0 at halftime. I knew once we started putting shots on the cage, they’d go in. In the second half we were able to keep it on our offensive end and our passing was really nice.”

Clark’s wicked backhand shot would have probably made her an elite tennis player if that was the athletic path she chose to take. But she comes from a field hockey family and will follow older sister Madilynn to the University of New Hampshire next year to continue her career.

She’s also following Madilynn footsteps as a team leader, on and off the field.

“I’ve tried to step into her shoes as a leader, to help the new girls and make this a space that’s good for them,” Clark said. “I’m getting more comfortable with that role this year. I was on the varsity as a freshman so I know what it’s like. I just try very hard to uplift everyone around me.

“Tonight we just had to work together more and show the passion we all have for the game. I think that showed through in the second half.”

Bridget Durkin, Sasha Hammond and G.G. Hogan also scored for the Wildkits.

Now the Kits are on the verge of making even more history for a fledgling program.

“If we made it to the Final Four, we’d finish the year on the highest high. That would really be the highlight of my career,” Clark said. “And it’s also something we deserve so much.

“I want to give a lot of credit to Coach Lesch because she’s the one who has made this program so strong in such a short time. We’ve had coaches in and out (Lesch was interim head coach in 2022), and she’s made us so strong with the expectations she has for us and how she runs the program. We owe a lot to her, and to all the girls that played here before us.”