Two Forester teams captured Midwest Conference championships and another advanced to the NCAA Tournament in the fall of 2015. Lake Forest's eight fall sports combined for a .606 overall winning percentage and a .744 mark in league play. Individual Foresters earned 29 all-conference honors and set or tied 24 program records.
The women's golf team was the first to finish competing in the fall. In their second year as a varsity program, the Foresters won both of their dual matches, averaged 29 shots per round better than in 2014-15, and moved up one spot at the MWC Championships with a fourth-place finish. Freshman Anhayte Guajardo earned all-conference honors by placing fifth in the individual standings.
The men's golf team has also showed signs of significant improvement. In four events this fall, the Foresters own a 26-stroke-per-round improvement compared to 2014-15. The team's conference championship meet is in the spring.
Women's tennis was the first of Lake Forest's sports to claim a conference title in 2015-16. The team won 11 of 12 matches overall in the fall and tied St. Norbert College and Grinnell College atop the MWC standings with a league record of 9-1. The Foresters won the tiebreaker and their first conference championship since 2003. In addition, freshman Billie Rodman captured MWC titles at #1 singles and, with classmate Allison Watts, #2 doubles. Christi Valicenti, the program's career leader in singles and doubles victories, was also a conference champion at #2 singles.
While the volleyball team was unable to advance to the four-team MWC Tournament, the squad posted a 5-5 record in league play and junior middle blocker Brittany Avonts set a new program record with 138 blocks. She also ranked fifth in the nation in blocks per set and was named First Team All-MWC.
A day after the volleyball team completed its schedule, the Lake Forest women's soccer team claimed a second straight conference championship by erasing a two-goal deficit and defeating St. Norbert College 5-4 in a thrilling regular season finale. Unfortunately for the Foresters, they were upset in the MWC Tournament semifinals the following weekend, ending the squad's bid for back-to-back NCAA Tournament appearances. The team finished 14-3-2 overall and 9-0-1 in league play. After scoring 30 goals on the season and a program record 104 in her career, senior forward Michelle Greeneway was named MWC Offensive Player of the Year and was joined on the First Team by senior forward Holly Lesperance and midfielder Ellen Rogers.
After falling to St. Norbert in the final game of the regular season and missing out on a conference title, the Forester men's soccer team eliminated the Green Knights five days later in the semifinals of the MWC Tournament. The Foresters then defeated Knox College 2-1 in the final to advance to the NCAA Tournament for the second time in the last three seasons. A 3-2 loss at Wheaton in the first round left Lake Forest with a 13-7-1 overall record on the year. Senior forward Dylan Hartman was named MWC Player of the Year after leading the team with a dozen goals and 11 assists.
The second weekend in November also marked the end of the football season. Lake Forest finished 4-6 overall for the second year in a row but moved up a spot in the MWC South Division standings with a league mark of 3-2. Senior safety Pat Clark, linebacker Sean Chapman, and wide receiver Willie McIntyre were First Team All-MWC South honorees for the fourth-highest scoring team in program history at 26.3 points per game.
The Forester cross country teams matched their 2014 finish at the MWC Championships, placing third in the men's standings and fifth on the women's side. Lake Forest had a league-high seven runners earn all-conference honors by placing among the top 20 in the men's or women's race. The team finished off its season at the NCAA Division III Regional Meet, where junior Kristen Whitney broke her own school record with a time of 22:49.7 in the women's 6-kilometer race and freshman Jorge Villanueva's 26:05.4 in the men's 8K was also a program best.
Looking ahead to the winter, preseason coaches polls predicted the Foresters would finish in the top half of the conference standings in every sport, including a third consecutive championship for men's swimming and diving. The women's hockey team is off to the best start of the winter sports with a record of 8-0-1 and a #5 ranking in this week's USCHO poll.