The Forester men's lacrosse team is making its second consecutive appearance in the NCAA Division III Tournament this week and will host Transylvania University in the opening round on Wednesday.
The game features two of the top defenses in the nation with Transylvania leading the country with 15.65 caused turnovers per contest and Lake Forest ranking second at 14.65. Pioneers are also four in scoring defense at 7.12 goals allowed per game and the Foresters sixth at 7.24.
Lake Forest ranks higher at the offensive end of the field with 16.12 goals scored per game, the 17th-highest total in the nation, and the fifth-best scoring margin at +8.88. Transylvania is 26th in scoring offense (15.65) and seventh in scoring margin (+8.53).
The Foresters enter the tournament with an overall record of 15-2 and captured its second league title in a row with a perfect 4-0 mark in Midwest Lacrosse Conference play. They won last week's MLC Tournament with victories at home over Cornell College (20-1) on Wednesday and the University of Dubuque (11-4) in Saturday's final.
Transylvania is 11-6 overall and went 5-0 to capture the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference regular season title with a 5-0 record in the league. The Pioneers also earned an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament by routing Earlham College 24-1 and Hanover College 27-4 in the HCAC Tournament.
The Foresters have been extremely successful at home, coming out on top of all 10 of their games on campus and outscoring opponents 173-68 in those contests. The team has won 10 of its last 11 games overall.
The Pioneers dropped their first three road games of 2024 but have won their last four by a combined 72 goals. They enter the NCAA Tournament on a six-game winning streak.
Lake Forest has four players with at least 40 points and seven with 30 or more. Brendan Herbert has scored a team-high 40 goals and added 14 assists while Carson Pagel paces the squad in assists with 28 to go with his 21 scores. Macklin Thomas and Trip Gaston are next on the team with 34 and 33 goals, respectively, and have combined for 90 points.
At the other end of the field goalie Andrew Widlar owns a .569 save percentage and ranks third in the nation with a 7.08 goals against average. Conor Murphy leads the team with 84 ground balls and 47 caused turnovers. Gordon Kiesgen IV is currently 10th in the nation with a .677 face-off winning percentage.
A trio of Pioneers are tied for the team lead with 41 points apiece and three more members of the team are in the 30s. Kade Kruger's 32 goals and Ryan Geisler's 22 assists lead Transylvania while Luke Hinton is next in both categories with 28 goals and 13 assists.
Transylvania goalie Ben Pund.has stopped 54.2 percent of opponents' shots on goal this season and owns a goals against average of 8.71. Parker Rowland's face-off winning percentage of .686 ranks seventh in the country and he leads the team with 89 ground balls and Ben Marcum with 33 caused turnovers.
Lake Forest Head Coach Phil Dodson is 36-14 in his third season at the College and 55-33 in his sixth year overall as a collegiate head coach
Transylvania is 28-33 in three seasons with Logan Otto as head coach.
Wednesday's meeting will take place on Farwell Field with the opening face-off scheduled for 2:00 p.m. (CT) The weather forecast calls for mostly sunny skies, light winds, and temperatures in the 60s.
The winner will continue its NCAA Tournament journey at Lynchburg College (Lynchburg, Virginia) and take on Washington and Lee University in Saturday's second round.
