With three conference titles and nine runner-up finishes in regular or postseason play, 2021-22 was another success story for the Foresters.
Lake Forest teams combined to record twice as many wins as losses in league contests and the Foresters' 64 all-conference honors are the most in school history. Seven athletes at the College were also selected as their league's player of the year and eight more were named newcomer of the year or to all-freshman teams. In addition, conference coach of the year honors were bestowed on four members of the department.
As always, Lake Forest College student-athletes also excelled in the classroom in 2021-22. They earned Midwest Conference Elite 20 awards, which are presented to the individual at each MWC Tournament or Championship Meet with the highest cumulative grade point average, in four of the league's 18 sports and a pair of Foresters were named Academic All-District® by the College Sports information Directors of America. A total of 40 conference all-academic team honors went to members of the men's and women's hockey and women's golf teams and the lists for men's golf and men's and women's lacrosse will be announced soon. The 2021-22 Academic All-MWC release will come out in July.
Fall
A sport-by-sport summary of the year begins in the fall with arguably the best football season in school history. The Foresters, who reached the NCAA Division III Playoffs for the first time since 2002, finished the regular season with a perfect 10-0 overall record and outscored their nine MWC opponents 415-75 while claiming the program's sixth conference title. Thirty-one school records were broken or tied, including 13 by wide receiver/kick returner A.J. Jackson, whose eight career punt return touchdowns are also the most in NCAA Division III history. Jackson was named First Team All-American as a returner while MWC Offensive Line MVP Anthony DerManulian and MWC Defensive Skill MVP Dante Esposito (team record-tying eight interceptions) earned second team accolades. The trio was joined as First Team All-MWC selections by defensive lineman Alex Bendler, running back Damon Bonds, center Connor Cahill, linebacker Dominic Johnson, and quarterback Tre Stewart, who was also the MWC Newcomer of the Year. Three more Foresters were named Second Team All-MWC and Vincent Wallace was the MWC Elite 20 Award winner.
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Women's tennis finished the fall 8-4 overall and in second place in the MWC standings with victories in five of six league matches. The Foresters were also the runners-up at the four-team MWC Tournament, reaching the event's final for the eighth time in the last 11 years it was held. In addition, team members advanced to the finals of the MWC Individual Tournaments at seven of nine positions in the lineup. Sara Lopez was voted MWC Newcomer of the Year by league coaches and Natalia Leite was the sport's MWC Elite 20 Award winner. Lake Forest returned to the court in the spring and split six matches.
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With a 6-1-1 record in league play, the Lake Forest women's soccer team also placed second in the standings and has now qualified for 15 of the last 17 four-team MWC Tournaments. The Foresters posted a league-best 0.237 goals against average in eight conference games and the team's goalkeeper, Maggie Kersting, was named MWC Defensive Player of the Year. Forward Julia Larson, midfielder Alyssa Xanos, and defender Krissy Kuwahara were also First Team All-MWC selections while defender Alexa Kotsovos earned Second Team honors and Paityn Tabor received the MWC Elite 20 Award. Kuwahara also became the first Forester to be named all-region since 2016 and the first freshman to earn the honor since 2009.
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The Lake Forest College women's golf team earned a fourth-place finish at the 2021 St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Championship Tournament in early October and Makayla Sanchez was the Foresters' top finisher at the event in 18th place. She led the team with a scoring average of 91.5 in the fall before posting a mark of 86.75 in the spring. Emily Tau, who joined the team for the second semester, was even better at 85.0 over five rounds in the second half of the year.
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A four-game winning streak against conference opponents was not quite enough for the Lake Forest men's soccer team to make its 10th consecutive appearance in the four-team MWC Tournament. The Foresters outscored league foes 16-11 but suffered a pair of overtime losses and finished fifth at 4-4-0. Midfielder Elliot Hull (5 goals, 2 assists), defender Connor Keast (3 goals, 3 assists), and goalkeeper Szymon Mocarski (1.84 goals against average) were named Second Team All-MWC.
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Volleyball also split eight conference contests to finish fifth in the conference standings. Outside hitter Mary Gegen was the Foresters' top offensive weapon with 286 kills while libero Izzi Visnjevac and setter Juli Barrientos shared team-high honors with 36 aces apiece and led the squad with 386 digs and 485 assists, respectively. Gegen, who recorded five double-doubles on the season, was named Second Team All-MWC.
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The Lake Forest women's cross country team placed sixth and the men seventh at the 2021 MWC Championship Meet. Four of Madeline Morland's six 6K times rank among the top 25 in program history and she matched the highest individual conference finish by a Forester with a runner-up placing at the MWC Championships. Audrey Paglia also earned All-MWC honors in 16th place while Michael Kurtz led the men's team in 28th.
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Winter
Swimming and diving posted two of the Foresters' four runner-up finishes in the winter, placing second in the men's and women's team standings at the MWC Championships. Violet Anderson helped account for a third of Lake Forest's 12 victories at the meet, touching the wall first in the 200-IM, 100-butterfly, and 200-butterfly and swimming a leg on the victorious 200-freestyle relay team. Sarah Burchart (50-freestyle), MWC Newcomer of the Year Ally McCarthy (200-freestyle), and Helena Blumenau (200-backstroke) also won individual events for the Forester women while Max Rowland (school record 400-IM), Graeme Witte (200-freestyle), and Alec Pittman (1650-freestyle) took home titles for the men. Both teams added another championship in the 800-freestyle relay and the women broke the program record in the 200-medley relay. Vadim Tashlitsky '00, who notched his 100th career dual meet victory earlier in the season, was selected by his peers as the MWC Women's Coach of the Year while Witte earned his second consecutive MWC Elite 20 Award.
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With a 13-3-0 record in league play in 2021-22, the Lake Forest women's hockey team finished second in the Northern Collegiate Hockey Association standings for the sixth time in the last eight years. The Foresters had an All-NCHA honoree at each position in forward Marissa Gebauer (14 goals, 9 assists), defenseman Olyvia Opsahl (9 goals, 9 assists), and goaltender Hannah Turnage (.935 save percentage) while defenseman Sophia Chapman was named to the NCHA All-Freshman Team. Turnage won a program record 15 games during the season and Opsahl added Second Team West All-American accolades from the AHCA to her list of awards. In addition to their success on the ice, the Foresters led the conference with 18 NCHA All-Academic Team selections, the most by any team in league history.
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Head Handball Coach Mike Dau '58 nearly captured his 52nd national championship but his men's team settled for second at the 2022 U.S. Handball Association National Collegiate Championships at Missouri State University. Anthony Sullivan reached the Open Singles quarterfinals while Devin Peters reached the semifinals of the Open 9-16 Division. Sullivan and Peters were also semifinalists in Open Doubles but fell to the eventual champions. Both players finished among the top eight at the Illinois Handball Association Singles Tournament earlier in the season and closed out the year with runner-up placing at the IHA Doubles Tournament.
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Men's Basketball Coach Ryan Davis was one of two members of the department in their first season as head coach in the winter of 2021-22. He led the team to a 9-7 MWC record and Lake Forest tied for fifth in the league standings. Point guard Sean Espinosa was a First Team All-MWC selection for the third time in his career and graduated as the program's all-time leader with 484 assists, 142 more than the previous record. He also finished with 1,635 points, the third-highest total in team history and the most by a Forester since 1968. Wing Johnny Roeser led the conference with 10.8 rebounds per game and was named Second Team All-MWC and MWC Newcomer of the Year.
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Already the head women's golf coach at the College since 2017, Sean O'Malley began his tenure as head men's hockey coach after seven years as an assistant this winter. The Foresters finished eighth in the NCHA standings and batted eventual national champion Adrian College in the quarterfinals of the league's Harris Cup Playoffs, falling 2-1 and 3-1. Forward Josh Giacomin ranked among the conference leaders with a team-high 11 goals and 21 assists and earned All-NCHA honors for the second time in his career. Defenseman Matteas Derraugh (5 goals, 8 assists) was named to the NCHA All-Freshman Team.
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The Lake Forest women's basketball team also posted an eighth-place league finish in 2021-22, despite guard Maurissa Edwards ranking first in steals and joining forward Annie Lally and guard Katie Neher among the top 11 scorers in the conference during MWC play. Ten different players led the team in points or rebounds at least once during the season, which ended with a six-point victory over Grinnell College on Senior Day.
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Spring
Women's lacrosse began competing as a varsity sport in 2022 and wasted no time climbing to the top of the Midwest Women's Lacrosse Conference standings. The Foresters' 14-9 triumph over Hamline University on April 29 was the team's fifth victory in as many league games and they were 11-4 overall. Lake Forest led the conference in scoring offense and defense and were well-represented on the league's end-of-season awards list. Attacker Jenna Doctor (36 goals, 10 assists), goalie Calliope Saban (league-high .462 save percentage), and midfielder Krissy Kuwahara (29 goals, 52 draw controls) were voted MWLC Attacker of the Year, Defensive Player of the Year, and Rookie of the Year, respectively, and were joined by midfielders Ali Graham (25 goals, 38 ground balls, 26 caused turnovers) and Ryleigh Nelson (20- goals, 20 assists) as First Team All-MWLC honorees. Midfielder Cass Barbera (22 goals) was a Second Team selection and Maggie Zentgraf the MWLC Coach of the Year.
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Just three days after the women's lacrosse team claimed its first conference title, the softball team clinched its sixth in the last nine years and 12th overall. The wins on May 1 also gave head coach Joe Kinsella a conference record 180 MWC victories in his career. Lake Forest was 24-15 overall and posted a .393 batting average and 2.91 earned run average while winning 15 of 16 league games in 2022. With a .798 slugging percentage and school record 56 base hits, center fielder/pitcher Josie Klein was named MWC Position Player of the Year while teammate Hannah Smith (9-7, 3.06 earned run average) was voted MWC Pitcher of the Year and Newcomer of the Year. They also earned NFCA All-Region honors and were joined as First Team All-MWC selections by pitcher/outfielder Carlie Mertz (.330 BA, 3.52 ERA), catcher/designated player Hailey Boylan (.344, 4 HR), and second baseman Kelly Collins (.312, 28 RBI). Outfielder Elena Chrisman (.311) and shortstop Kaylee Purgatorio (.263) were Second Team All-MWC honorees.
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Spring in Lake Forest Athletics also featured three runner-up conference finishes, including the men's lacrosse team placing second in the Midwest Lacrosse Conference with a 5-1 mark in league play. The Foresters were 8-7 overall and nearly reached the NCAA Division III Tournament, taking league champion University of Dubuque to overtime in the MLC Tournament final before seeing their first season as a varsity sport since 1994 finally come to an end. Defender Conor Murphy picked up 49 ground balls, caused a team-high 34 turnovers, and was named First Team All-MLC. Attacker John Casey (34 goals, 11 assists, 59 ground balls) and midfielder Jack Langworthy (17 goals, 8 assists) were Second Team All-MLC selections while attacker Luke Bowers, shortstick Connor Tartaglione, and defenseman Henry Baizer earned Honorable Mention All-MLC accolades.
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The Forester men's tennis team was also second in the conference in both regular season and postseason play. Lake Forest finished 12-9 overall, won five of six league matches, and reached the MWC Championship Match for the sixth time in the last eight years. Oleksyi Vyshyvanyuk earned the league's inaugural MWC Player of the Year award after capturing individual conference titles at #1 singles and #1 doubles. Daniel Tulchinskiy, his partner in doubles and the Foresters' #2 singles player, was named MWC Newcomer of the Year. In addition to claiming titles at the top, the Foresters added runner-up finishes at five of the other seven positions in the lineup.
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After battling the cold and wind for much of the spring season, the Forester men's golf team traveled to Louisville for the 54-hole SLIAC Championships April 25-26. The team finished the first two rounds ranked fifth in the standings but rallied in the third to take home second place. With the sixth-lowest three-round score in team history (229), James Johnson placed fifth individually to earn First Team All-SLIAC accolades. Jack Dwyer was four shots behind him and tied-for-10th overall, good for Second Team All-SLIAC honors. Dwyer led the team with a 77.48 scoring average on the year.
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The final team to compete in 2021-22 was track, which competed in a pair of MWC Championship Meets. Audrey Paglia led Lake Forest at the league's indoor meet in February, earning All-MWC honors with a runner-up finish and time of 2:24.94. Madeline Morland was the most successful Forester during the outdoor season and was named All-MWC in two events, placing second in the 1500m and third in the 5000m on the hottest weekend of the season. She set school records at both distances in late April, completing the 1500 in 4:48.96 and the 5000 in 18:17.54.
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More Awards
Each year the College presents the Nicholas J. Wasylik Senior Athletic Award to an individual, selected by the Department of Athletics, who best emulates the positive, outgoing attitude, as well as the drive and determination, of the College's Athletic Director from 1959 to 1973. This year's recipient of the award was swimmer Kylie Morgan, a three-time conference champion and one of the team's captains this year. Morgan, a Richter's Scholar and double major in biology and environmental studies, was named Academic All-MWC each year the award was given. She has also been active on campus, serving as an Admissions Ambassador, Tri Beta Biological Honor Society President, Athletic Council SAAC Representative, and LEAP Environmental Protection Club member.
The Lake Forest College Senior Scholar-Athlete Award is presented to the individual with the highest grade point average over the previous three semesters and the 2022 honoree is another swimmer, Graeme Witte. A biology major, Witte graduated in May with a perfect 4.0 cumulative grade point average and is a member of the Phi Beta Kappa National Honors Society, as well as the Omicron Delta Kappa (Leadership), Chi Alpha Sigma (College Athlete), and Tri-Beta (Biology) Honors Societies. He was the MWC Elite 20 award winner his sophomore and senior years and an Academic All-MWC honoree each year eligible. He is a Dean's List Scholar and participated in the Richter Scholar program his freshman year.