The Lake Forest College men's lacrosse team scored the first seven goals of a 15-10 victory at Illinois Institute of Technology Wednesday night.

Both teams were playing for home-field advantage in this Saturday's quarterfinal round of the Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference Tournament.

The Foresters took the early lead less than a minute into the contest and led 5-0 at the end of the first quarter. They also accounted for the first two goals of the second before the Scarlet Hawks netted the final two of the half. The margin never dropped below five and was that size once again at 10-5 after three quarters but grew to nine (14-5) in the fourth. Illinois Tech scored four of the final five goals of the night to make it a 15-10 final.

Lake Forest junior Carson Pagel led all players in the game and matched his career high with six points. He scored twice in the first quarter, assisted on one goal in the second and another just after halftime, completed his hat trick later in the third, and set up one more score in the fourth. Pagel is second on the team with 29 points this season and now ranks tied-for-sixth in program history with 41 assists and eighth with 87 points in his career.

Senior Ryan Dousevicz also recorded a ht trick Wednesday night, his third in the last four games, and climbed into fourth place in team annals with 77 career scores.

Two goal performances were turned in by senior Brant Schuckman, sophomore Aidan Wigton, and freshman Liam Smith. Wigton continues to lead Lake Forest 25 goals and 33 points this spring. Senior Brendan Herbert, sophomore Jackson Derosia, and junior Macklin Thomas also scored in the game and Thomas became just the seventh player in team history with at least 100 career points.

Junior Gabe Boston was 10-9 on faceoffs and his four ground balls was tied for the team lead with sophomore Rowan Baringer and freshman Jack Keeling. Juniors Liam Bradley and Judson Norris led the visitors in caused turnovers with three and two, respectively.

Senior Jacob Lipson was stellar in goal, stopping six of the Scarlet Hawks' eight shots on target in the first half. He has made a dozen saves while allowing just three goals in his last four quarters of action.

The visitors were perfect on 18 clearing attempts, had a 32-26 edge in ground balls, and committed 18 turnovers to Illinois Tech's 20. The home team had a slight 41-39 edge in shot attempts, although the Foresters put more (23-20) on goal.

Lake Forest finished the regular season with an overall record of 9-6 and league mark of 8-3, good for the #4 seed in the NACC Tournament. Illinois Tech fell to 7-10 overall and 7-4 in the conference.

The Foresters will host Benedictine University in the NACC Tournament quarterfinals on Saturday. A start time has yet to be announced.