The Forester men's lacrosse team was defeated 12-9 at Aurora University Wednesday evening in the semifinals of the Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference Tournament.

The game started out well for Lake Forest with goals from junior Ryan Dousevicz and sophomore Macklin Thomas in the first five minutes giving the visitors a 2-0 advantage. After Aurora got on the scoreboard, senior Chas Dean restored the two-goal cushion with 6:24 to play in the opening period.

The Spartans then went on a five-goal run that put them on top for good. Forester sophomore Andrew Koch ended the streak with 5:37 to play in the half and the score was still 6-4 at the break.

Aurora netted fhe first goal of the third quarter but freshman Aidan Wigton answered for Lake Forest. Fellow freshman John Shannon followed another Spartan score with one of his own and Dean struck for the second time in the contest to make it an 8-7 game late in the third. 

Another run for the home team started with 75 seconds left in the third and continued with three tallies in the fourth, the last with just 4:52 remaining. Senior John Casey increased his school record career goal total to 115 and point mark to 159 and Thomas scored his team-high 29th of the season but time ran out on any comeback attempt the Foresters hoped to make.

Lake Forest senior Conor Murphy tied for the team lead with four ground balls and a pair of caused turnovers. He is easily the program's career leader in both categories with 305 and 194, respectively. Classmate Andrew Widlar also picked up four ground balls and added seven saves to his team record career total, which now stands at 523. Trip Gaston, another senior and the Foresters' career leader in assists, set up the second score of the game to raised that total to 64.

Dean, Casey, Murphy, Widlar,and Gaston are among 20 seniors on the team this season. Nearly all of them were on the field when the program restarted in 2022 after a 28-year hiatus and they have helped lead Lake Forest to a 47-23 record and a pair of league titles and NCAA Tournament appearances over the last four seasons.