The best season in Evanston’s short history in field hockey received some validation when the Wildkits were seeded No. 5 for the Illinois High School Association state tournament a couple of weeks ago.
Friday, the Kit girls proved they belong with the state’s elite.
Evanston scored the first three goals of the game, then hung on for a 3-2 victory over No. 4 seed Loyola Academy in the Loyola Sectional championship contest Friday in Glenview. With the win, the Kits advanced to the Final Four for the first time and now stand just two wins away from a possible state crown.
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Coach Annie Lesch’s squad will take a 14-5-1 record into next Thursday’s semifinal state matchup against defending champion New Trier at the Lake Forest west campus. Game time is 5 p.m. Glenbrook South, the No. 2 seed, and No. 3 Lake Forest will meet in the other semifinal. The third place and state championship games are set for October 28th.
Evanston used goals from sophomore Sienna Seyferth, freshman Maggie Bird and senior Makayla Clark to build an early advantage, then held off a late surge by the Ramblers and star forward Ingrid Cavanaugh, who tallied both goals in the third period.
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The win avenged a 1-0 regular season loss to Loyola and extended Evanston’s single season school record for wins to 14. The Kits survived a corner attempt by Loyola in the final 2 minutes behind junior goaltender Bridget Lesch, the coach’s daughter.
“When the seedings came out, all they needed to know was that they had a good chance to go to State,” said second-year head coach Annie Lesch. “That was our ticket in. We had really good energy going into the game and no one doubted that we belonged. No one was thinking this could be our last game.
“I thought we were pretty loose and focused at the same time. During the break between the third and fourth quarters I reminded them that they were still winning, and most of that last quarter was played between the 25s (yard lines).
“We knew we didn’t really test Loyola the first time we played them, but we’ve become a lot more confident in our shooting and scoring since that game. They believed they were just as good --- if not better --- than Loyola. That was our mindset.”
Seyferth, who played one of her best games of the season, got the Kits on the board first in the first quarter. Bird and Clark, who scored her team-high 24th goal, boosted the advantage to 3-0 at the halftime intermission.
Lesch also credited the solid play of G.G. Hogan and Sasha Hammond for helping ETHS control the time of possession most of the contest.
“I thought our defensive line did a good job of limiting Loyola’s opportunities,” said the coach. “The girls are very, very excited to go to State and it’s such a huge accomplishment. A lot of these girls played youth lacrosse for me when they were younger, and for the seniors to go to State is really a special moment for all of us.”
An early season trip to St. Louis for a tournament told Lesch that special moment could happen in 2023.
“When we came out of our pool in the Gateway Tournament, having won it, that’s when we started to think we could have a good season,” she said. “We tried to play the toughest teams we could this year, but we didn’t think we’d be this strong.
“A lot of people (players) have really worked on their skill sets and filled their roles really well. I did change some things up this year (after serving as an interim coach in 2022) and this year does feel different than last year.”
The Wildkits face a daunting task against a New Trier program that won numerous state championships under veteran head coach Stephanie Nykaza before being the sport was recognized by the IHSA. New Trier blanked ETHS 4-0 when the two teams met during the regular season, and New Trier will take an overall record of 21-1-2 into the matchup after whipping both Stevenson (11-0) and Glenbard West (7-0) in its first two tournament games.
In fact, the Trevians haven’t allowed a goal in their last 8 games.
“We were happy with the way we played against them the first time, but you can’t win if you can’t score,” acknowledged Lesch. “Our goal is to test them and get some corners (restarts) so we can be in the fight. We hope we can control the ball more than we did the first time, too.
“They’re a very highly skilled team. Last year we were the only team to score on them in the regular season, so our girls know we can do it.”
