GRESHAM, Ore. — Player of the Game Christabella Forest (Fr., Chino Hills, Calif.) scored five times to lead New York Division Champion Cornell University to a 15-7 victory over North Atlantic Division Runner-Up Wellesley College in the 11th Place game of the 2018 Women’s National Collegiate Club Championship hosted by the University of Washington at Mt. Hood Community College.
Both teams post their highest finishes in the history of their appearances at the Women’s National Collegiate Club Championship.
Led by head coach Yuval Grossman, the Big Red of Cornell bests its previous high of a tie for 13th at the 2012 tournament hosted by Florida State University after tying for 15th at Texas A&M University (2005), Northwestern University (2006) and the University of Notre Dame (2011).
For Wellesley, which made it into the 2018 field following the decision of division champion Tufts University to pass on attending, The Blue and head coach Jerry Moss III place 12th and better the team’s previous high of ties for 15th place in both 2012 (at Florida State) and 2016 (at the University of California-Santa Cruz).
Squaring off in the final game of the 30-contest weekend, Cornell jumped out to a 7-0 lead on Wellesley in the first quarter and never looked back in picking up an eight-score victory.
For the Big Red, Kelsey Carpenter (So., Ann Arbor, Mich.) and Nicole Krisztinicz (Fr., McLean, Va.) both scored three times to join Forest in posting hat-tricks. Lauren McBrearty (Jr., Rocky Point, N.Y.) tacked on a pair with Cassandra Benson (Gr., Pocatello, Idaho) and Carolina Duque (Jr., Hamilton, Ontario) each accounting for solo tallies.
In cage, Olivia Lang (Gr., Cupertino, Calif.) made one save in 21 minutes of work prior to Benson leaving the field and going between the pipes to turn away four shots in the fourth quarter.
Jordan Street (So., Thousand Oaks, Calif.) and Claire Whitaker (Jr., Annapolis, Md.) keyed Wellesley with pairs of goals. Huihan Li (So., Beijing, China), Brianna Miller (Jr., Edinburg, Texas) and Cameron Wierzbanowski (Fr., Arlington, Va.) each tacked on single scores to account for the remainder of The Blue’s offense.
Goalie Rachel Utomo (Jr., Jakarta, Indonesia) took the loss with nine saves.
| 1st Q | 2nd Q | 3rd Q | 4th Q | – | FINAL | |
| Cornell University | 7 | 1 | 3 | 4 | – | 15 |
| Wellesley College | 0 | 3 | 3 | 1 | – | 7 |
| Wellesley Goals: | Jordan Street (2); Claire Whitaker (2); Huihan Li; Brianna Miller; Cameron Wierzbanowski | |||||
| Cornell Goals: | Christabella Forest (5); Kelsey Carpenter (3); Nicole Krisztinicz (3); Lauren McBrearty (2); Cassandra Benson; Carolina Duque | |||||
| Saves: | Wellesley – Rachel Utomo (9) ; Cornell – Olivia Lang (1, 21 minutes), Cassandra Benson (4, 7 minutes) | |||||
| Exclusions: | Wellesley – 3 ; Cornell – 7 | |||||
| Advantage Opportunities: | Wellesley – 2-for-7 ; Cornell – 1-for-3 | |||||
| Sprints: | Wellesley – 1-for-4 (3rd) ; Cornell – 3-for-4 (1st, 2nd, 4th) | |||||
| Cards/Misconducts: | None | |||||
| Officials: | Gene Gill, Kacie Bund | |||||
Wellesley College’s Claire Whitaker (#2)
Lauren McBrearty (#2) of Cornell University
Wellesley College’s Claire Whitaker (#2) surveys the field as Cornell University’s Christabella Forest (#17) defends
Cornell University’s Kelsey Carpenter (#4) unleashes a shot
