Four minutes into the second quarter on Wednesday night, when junior Jesse LeSage’s shot found the back of the net against Glenbrook South, Evanston looked poised for an upset of the team that MaxPreps has ranked as the #8 field hockey team in the country.

“[That goal] felt really good,” LeSage said. “It was surprising, but it definitely felt good.”

While the Wildkits and senior goalie Bridget Lesch—who made four saves in the second quarter after Evanston took the lead—stayed in the driver’s seat through halftime, a strong second-half performance from the Titans ended the Kits’ dreams of an upset, with GBS up, 6-1, by the time the game came to a close.

The Titans (11-2-1) came into Wednesday on the back of a seven-game winning streak. From the moment the first whistle blew, GBS maintained almost sole possession and constant pressure towards the Wildkits’ net. Still, the Titans only managed to get one shot on net in the quarter, an attempt that was swiftly saved by goalie Bridget Lesch, keeping the score at 0-0 at the end of the first quarter.

Lesch and the Kit defense would hold on in the face of the Titans’ offense barrage through the second quarter, but GBS came out of half with a new fire in them, scoring three goals in each of the final quarters to seal the victory over the Kits. Despite the loss, head coach Annie Lesch was proud of her team’s effort against the top-ranked Titans.

“I thought [we] played really confident and with a lot of energy,” Lesch stated. “While the final score didn’t reflect it, we won the first half, which was a huge win for us against a team like that.”

The Kits will look to bounce back in a Monday night matchup on the road against Glenbard West.