Girls Lacrosse: Tigers advance to quarterfinals with first-ever section win

Betsy Anderson (3 goals, assist) faces off with a Kennedy player (photo by Jim Lindquist)

For the first time in their brief, three-year history the Tigers have advanced to the quarterfinals of the Section 3 tournament.

Sixth-seeded Farmington defeated No. 11 Bloomington Kennedy 13-11 Monday night at Tiger Stadium to earn the right to face off against third-seeded Bloomington Jefferson on Wednesday afternoon.

The home playoff contest was the first ever played by a Tiger girls lacrosse team.

"It was good to see more people come out to watch the game," coach Dan  Pickens said, "and to see the girls play under the lights, both figuratively and literally."

Pickens said Kennedy provided a unique challenge as it has two of the leading scorers in the state, Leah Gefroh and Bri Dubose, in its lineup.

"Between them they had scored 120 goals," he said. "We thought if we could shut them down we should win the game.

"They only had three goals between them. Our defense and goaltender (Maddie Kohlbeck) played great."

The Tigers led 5-3 at the halftime break and enjoyed a 13-9 lead with two minutes remaining before the Eagles scored a pair of late goals.

Haley Bradshaw 4 goals, assist (photo by Jim Lindquist)

Haley Bradshaw had four goals and Adrienne Jolicoeur and Jess Erchul each recorded a hat trick to lead the Farmington attack. Betsy Anderson found the net twice; Lindsay Benson accounted for the other Tiger score.

Ally Midboe added a pair of assists and Jolicoeur, Bradshaw, Erchul, Anderson and Michaela Tonsager had one apiece.

"We got back to our roots on offense," Pickens said, "and scored a lot of power goals. They let us run around a bit and we took advantage

 "Their goalie played very well or we could have easily had another five or six goals in the first half. We just didn't finish around the net."

Kohlbeck had a busy night in net, stopping 15 of 26 shots.

Last season Jefferson took the Tigers out of section play in the opening round by a score of 20-8.

"We're looking for some revenge," Pickens said.

Wednesday's game time is 4:30 at Jefferson.

Maddie Kohlbeck 15 saves (photo by Jim Lindquist)

Jess Erchul 3 goals, assist (photo by Jim Lindquist)