Red Devils Girls Lacrosse Falls To Loyola in State Title Game

After giving up 21 goals in its regular season matchup with Loyola Academy, Hinsdale Central knew it had to make an adjustment against the Ramblers’ high-octane attack.

They went into a slow-down offense, content to keep possession of the ball on the perimeter and control the tempo of the game with ball possession.

And the tactic worked for the first 25 minutes as the Red Devils went into halftime only down 4-2. But in the second half, Loyola’s offense came to life, scoring 11 goals as Hinsdale Central fell, 15-3, in the state championship game at Northwestern University on Friday night.

“They had such a good attack that I wanted to keep the ball away from them,” Hinsdale Central coach Lindsay Finocchiaro said. “We thought that if we possessed the ball more we’d have a better shot at gaining more possession the whole time and controlling the game.

Loyola scored on its first possession, less than a minute into the game, but Hinsdale Central won the ensuing drawing control and went into its offense. The Red Devils took more than five minutes off the clock – without attempting a shot – before a bad pass resulted in a turnover.

With Loyola Academy unable to find a rhythm on offense, Hinsdale Central hung in with the two-time defending state champions. Dylan Vonieff tied the game at 1-1 midway through the half. The senior midfielder beat her defender down the middle and fired a low shot past Loyola goalie Emily Nimrod.

On the defensive end, goalie Alyson Bean was outstanding in the first half. The senior goalie had nine saves on 14 Loyola shots, including a number of Rambler chances that were point-blank and in close.

“[Bean] did an awesome job,” Finocchiaro said. “She’s been huge for us all year and she really stepped up in clutch moments.”

Maggie Langhamer brought the Red Devils back within one goal, at 3-2, late in the first half with a high shot past Nimrod. Loyola would add one more in the closing minutes to go up by two goals at halftime.

From there it was all Loyola. The Ramblers would take over coming right out at halftime, and again, draw controls were pivotal. Loyola won the first two draws of the second half, leading to two goals in the first minute of play. Katherine Eilers found Stepheanie Scherer in front of the net for an easy put-away and 25 seconds later, Molly Hulseman made a nice pass to Nicole Gleason to give the Ramblers a 6-2 lead.

“Once we got control in the second half, those first five or six minutes, I feel that’s where we won the game,” Loyola coach John Dwyer said. “Once we got control, it didn’t matter what they tried to do on offense at that point.”

Hinsdale Central was forced to chase – abandoning its slowdown tactic -- and the Ramblers took advantage. They outshot the Red Devils 30-11 for the game and seemingly scored at will in the second half.

This marks the second time Hinsdale Central has played in the state title game. Back in 2007, the Red Devils upset Loyola, 13-12, to win their only state title. Hinsdale Central will graduate 10 seniors from this year’s squad and look to retool for next season.

“We’ve been working so hard this entire season; we’ve had some amazing wins in the playoffs,” Bean said. “The fact that we managed to get here, even if we didn’t win it, we got to play in the state championship game. That’s a big deal, that’s pretty amazing.”