The Forester men's lacrosse team defeated Transylvania University 12-10 in the first round of the 2024 NCAA Division III Tournament on Wednesday and will take on Washington and Lee University at the University of Lynchburg in round two on Saturday.
Lake Forest, which is in the NCAA Tournament for the second year in a row, is now 16-2 on the season. The back-to-back Midwest Lacrosse Conference's regular season and tournament champion has won 10 of its last 11 contests and ranks among the top 10 in the nation in scoring margin (+8.5 goals per game), scoring defense (7.39), ground balls per game (43.78), and caused turnovers per game (14.83).
Ranked 16th in the nation, Washington and Lee finished the regular season 13-5 overall and a perfect 9-0 in Old Dominion Athletic Conference play. The Generals were edged out 13-12 by Randolph Macon College in the semifinals of the ODAC Tournament but still received an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament. They lead the country in clear percentage at 91.2 percent and rank 15th in scoring a 16.22 goals per contest.
Sophomore Brendan Herbert leads Lake Forest with 42 goals and 56 points while freshman Carson Pagel has 50 points, including a team-high 28 assists. Macklin Thomas and Trip Gaston are next with 48 points apiece while sophomore Ryan Dousevicz has 40.
After making 13 saves on Wednesday, junior goalie Andrew Widlar owns a .568 save percentage and ranks fourth in the nation with a 7.29 goals against average. Fellow junior Conor Murphy continues to lead the team with 87 ground balls and 49 caused turnovers. Gordon Kiesgen IV is currently 10th in the nation with a .675 face-off winning percentage and ranks second on the squad with 59 ground balls. Junior Jack Gillard is next in caused turnovers with 32.
The Generals' top three offensive players have combined for 198 points and James Haley tops the list with 70 on 37 goals and 33 assists. Ranking 22nd in the nation in goals per game is Alex Brown, who has scored 62 times in 18 contests. Hillis Burns has racked up 63 points on 35 goals and 28 assists.
Washington and Lee goalie Nick De Cain has limited opponents to 9.86 goals per 60 minutes and owns a .498 save percentage. Tyler Spano's .661 face-off winning percentage ranks 16th in the country and has enabled him to collect a team-high 157 ground balls. Chris Datz is next on the squad with 54 and his 20 caused turnovers also rank second among Generals behind Jed Heald's 23.
Lake Forest Head Coach Phil Dodson is 37-14 in his third season at the College and 56-33 in his sixth year overall as a collegiate head coach
Washington and Lee is 217-104 in Gene McCabe's 18th season as head coach and has now led the Generals to eight of the program's 23 NCAA Tournament appearances. .
Saturday's meeting will take place on the University of Lynchburg's Shellenberger Field with the opening face-off scheduled for 4:00 p.m. (ET) The weather forecast calls for temperatures in the high 60s with a slight chance of rain during the game..
The winner will take on either Lynchburg or Pfeiffer University in the second round on Sunday.
