The Forester men's lacrosse team defeated visiting Colorado College 13-9 on Saturday, thanks in large part to an 18-save performance by junior goalie Andrew Widlar.

The Tigers put 27 shots on goal to Lake Forest's 23 in the contest. Widlar helped his team take the early lead with six saves in the opening period and he had seven in the fourth as the Foresters held on for the victory. He raised his save percentage on the season to .577.

Lake Forest freshman Carson Pagel scored the game's first goal with 13:18 to play in the first quarter and the home team never trailed in the contest. After Colorado College tied the score three minutes later, sophomore Ryan Dousevicz put the Foresters back on top just 65 seconds later and classmate Brendan Herbert's goal late in the period made the score 3-1 after 15 minutes of play.

Herbert struck again with a man-up goal at 6:57 in the second but back-to-back goals from the Tigers made it a one-goal game with 1:24 to play in the quarter. The Forester converted another man-up opportunity with 18 seconds left and junior Chas Dean's 10th of the year made the score 5-3 at halftime.

The visitors netted a pair of goals just 44 seconds apart to tie the game once again early in the third. Lake Forest then took the lead for good with two tallies separated by just eight seconds as sophomore Gabe Boston followed up a goal from freshman Macklin Thomas by winning the face-off, sprinting up the middle of the field, and scoring for the second time this season.

After the Tigers closed back to within one with five-and-a-half minutes to play in the third, Thomas raised his season goal total to 21 and Pagel to 11 to put the Foresters on top 9-6 going into the final quarter.

Colorado College scored again early in the fourth but, once again, Lake Forest responded with back-to-back goals. The first was the ninth of the year for Dousevicz and the second completed Herbert's fifth hat trick of 2024 and raised his team-high season total to 24.

Two more Tiger tallies in the final four minutes were answered by Forester junior Trip Gaston, who matched Thomas with two goals and two assists on the day and now has 17 scores on the year.

Thanks to a game-high six from junior Conor Murphy and five from Boston, Lake Forest had a 36-23 edge in ground balls on the day. Widlar finished with two caused turnovers and five other Foresters recorded one apiece.

Lake Forest is now 8-1 and Colorado College 5-4 on the season.

The Foresters will host Beloit College Wednesday at 3:30 p.m. before beginning Midwest Lacrosse Conference play at Cornell College next Saturday.