The Lake Forest College men's hockey team cut an eight-goal deficit to two but eventually fell 12-9 to Hope College at home on Saturday.

Trailing 10-2 after a score from the Flying Dutchmen with 3:49 to play in the second quarter, the Foresters began their comeback bid with man-up goals from sophomores John Shannon and Aidan Wigton in the final 65 seconds of the half.

Lake Forest senior Brendan Herbert scored for the second time in the game just 13 seconds into the third quarter and before the visitors were able to get their final defender in position at the end of one of their penalties from late in the first half. Neither team scored again until Wigton netted his second of the day with just 1:58 remaining in the period and the Hope lead was just four at 10-6 going into the fourth.

Senior Ryan Dousevicz scored the home team's fourth man-up goal of the contest 41 seconds into the final quarter and Shannon's second of the game and team-high 10th this season just 38 seconds later made the score 10-8.

A Forester penalty led to the only man-up goal of the day for Hope with 12:18 remaining but the margin was back down to two after Wigton completed his second career hat trick with 10:29 on the clock.

The defenses took over at that point and the only goal in the game's final 10 minutes came from the visitors with 4:16 to play.

Wigton also had an assist in the game and he matched his career high with four points. Freshman Milo Closson, who was responsible for the Foresters' first goal of the contest, had a pair of assists and three points on the day.

Lake Forest won 13 of 23 faceoffs with senior Gabe Boston leading the way with nine in 13 attempts. He also led all players in the game with five ground balls. Meanwhile junior Judson Norris and freshman Avary Whitehead each had two of the home team's 10 caused turnovers.

Forester senior goalie Jacob Lipson finished with a season-high 11 saves while surrendering half of Hope's goals.

The loss is the first of the year for Lake Forest and came in the team's third contest. Hope improved to 2-0.

The Foresters will travel to Elmhurst University on Wednesday for a 7:00 p.m. non-conference game.