Championship events are coming up for Lake Forest College's six winter sports and talk of clinching and tiebreakers runs rampant. Here's a breakdown of it all.
Swimming & Diving
The Forester swimming and diving teams do not need to worry about tiebreakers as they head to Grinnell College for the Midwest Conference Championship Meet this weekend (February 19-21). The Lake Forest men have won the last two team titles and return six swimmers who finished first in an individual or relay event last year. The women have been the league's runner-up each of the last three years after claiming their last title in 2012.
Junior Sam Freedberg was the 2015 MWC Swimmer of the Meet and is the league's record-holder in the 400-IM and 200-fly and defending champion in the 200-IM. Senior Kristofer Korth defended his titles in both breaststroke events after setting conference records in them the year before. Junior Orion Huey won the 200-backstroke and, along with classmate Travis Johnson, was part of two victorious relays. They are joined by several other team members in the conference leaders entering the 2016 championships.
While the Foresters do not have any defending champions on the women’s side, junior Emily Bowens won the 200-back and joined fellow junior Lauren Dalecky on the victorious 400-medley relay in 2014. They rank among the league leaders entering this year’s championship meet, as do sophomores Lily McCarthy, Simona Kurta, Magdalen Kroeger, Toni Corbani, and Brigit Dunne.
Women's Hockey
Lake Forest has already set a program record for victories and the Foresters' 20-1-2 overall record (15-0-1 NCHA) has them ranked fourth in the nation by USCHO.com and third by D3hockey.com. The team travels to #2 Adrian College (20-2-1, 14-1-1 NCHA) and would claim the league's 2015-16 regular season title with a victory either Friday night at 7:00 (EST) or Saturday afternoon at 3:00 (EST). A tie either day could also bring the Kronschnabel Trophy back to Lake Forest, depending on head-to-head goal differential (Lake Forest defeated Adrian 6-2 earlier in the season).
The Foresters have already clinched one of the top two spots in the standings and will host a semifinal series in the NCHA Slaats Cup Playoffs next weekend. The highest remaining seed will host the final the weekend of March 5-6 with the winner advancing to the NCAA Division III Tournament. Lake Forest is looking for its third straight Slaats Cup title and NCAA Tournament appearance.
Single-season program records have also been broken by three individual Foresters, including two-sport star Michelle Greeneway. Greeneway, a senior forward, leads the nation with 33 goals, four more than the previous mark she set two seasons ago, and she is tied-for-fourth in NCAA Division III history with 103 goals and 20 game-winners in her career. Greeneway is the only women's soccer player in any division to score at least 100 goals in soccer and hockey.
Sophomore forward Olivia Spellmire is tied for second in the country with 27 assists, two more than the previous school record set by Kim Herring in 2009-10.
Finally, senior goaltender Allie Carter ranks second in the nation in winning percentage (.933) and goals against average (1.00) and 10th in save percentage (.946). She has already set team records with 14 victories and five shutouts this season and is on pace to set new marks for save percentage and goals against average.
Men's Hockey
The top three teams in each of the league's divisions advance to the NCHA Harris Cup Playoffs and, at 7-11-0 in league play, Lake Forest is tied with Concordia University Wisconsin for third place in the South standings. The Foresters are 9-14-0 overall and will host Lawrence University (8-12-3, 7-8-3 NCHA) Friday night at 7:00. The teams will also face off in Appleton, Wisconsin, at the same time on Saturday. Concordia Wisconsin has a pair of games at Northland College this weekend and owns the tiebreaker over the Foresters.
When the Harris Cup Playoffs begin, Lake Forest or Concordia Wisconsin will travel to Marian University for a quarterfinal game next Wednesday, with the winner advancing to play at either St. Norbert College, the top-ranked team in the nation, or #3 Adrian College in a two-game semifinals series next weekend. The final will be played at the highest remaining seed on Saturday, March 5, with an automatic berth in the NCAA Division III Tournament on the line.
Senior forward Ian Pichel posted the program's first four-goal game in nearly 26 years in a 7-1 victory over visiting Finlandia University last Saturday. Senior goaltender Leo Podolsky, the Foresters' career leader in victories and goals against average, stopped 26 of 27 shots on goal in the contest to climb into sixth place in team annals with 1,778 career saves. Gary Willett (1,804) and Strawn Cathcart (1,862) are next on the list above Podolsky. Pichel, Podolsky, forward Alec DeAngelo, and defenseman Robert Wiener will play their final career home game on Friday.
The 2015-16 Foresters are led in points by junior forward Jack Lewis and sophomore forward Billy Kent with 17. Lewis and sophomore forward Charlie Izaguirre pace the squad with 11 goals and 11 assists, respectively.
Women's Basketball
The Foresters are currently 11-10 overall and in fourth place in the Midwest Conference standings with a league mark of 9-7. Lake Forest will host Cornell College (17-4, 14-2 MWC) on Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. and Carroll University (7-14, 6-10 MWC) Saturday afternoon at 3:00. A victory in either game would avenge a loss from earlier in the season and secure Lake Forest's spot in the four-team MWC Tournament. The team would also qualify for the postseason if Ripon College lost either of its games on the week.
League champion St. Norbert College will host the 2015 MWC Tournament next Friday and Saturday and the Green Knights would be the Foresters' semifinal opponent should they qualify for the event. That semifinal game will be played at 8:00 p.m. with Saturday's final scheduled for 6:00 p.m. The tournament champion will earn the league's automatic bid to the NCAA Division III Tournament.
Senior guard Michelle Ricolcol leads the Foresters with 12.4 points per game this season and ranks first in the conference and 19th in the nation in free throw percentage at 85.7 percent. Senior forward K.C. Stralka is averaging 11.9 points and 9.4 rebounds per game this season and has posted a league-high 10 double-doubles. Saturday's contest will be their final career home game.
Men's Basketball
The Lake Forest men's basketball team is battling Monmouth College for the fourth and final spot in the MWC Tournament. The Foresters, who enter the week 11-9 overall and 9-7 mark in the league, will host Cornell College (8-13, 6-10 MWC) Wednesday evening at 5:30 and Carroll University (17-4, 13-3 MWC) Saturday at 1:00 p.m. Both opponents dealt Lake Forest a loss earlier in the season. Several tiebreaker scenarios still exist should the Foresters and Fighting Scots finish the season with identical records and nearly all of them favor Lake Forest.
The 2016 MWC Tournament will be hosted by league champion St. Norbert College. Should they earn a berth in the tourney, Lake Forest would take on the hosts in the semifinals next Friday at 6:00 p.m. The winner will advance to Saturday's 3:00 p.m. final with the tournament champion receiving the league's automatic bid to the NCAA Division III Tournament.
Behind a game-high 20 points by junior guard Andrew Toth and 17 rebounds by junior forward Jim Schick, the Foresters won 95-78 at Grinnell College last Saturday to tie Monmouth in the standings. The upcoming contests against Cornell and Carroll will be the final career home games for the team's lone senior, guard Chase Janer.
Schick leads the team with 15.8 points per game and his 11.1 rebounds per contest rank first in the league and 14th in the country. He has reached double figures in both categories in the same game 11 times. Toth is one of five other Foresters who score at least eight points per contest.
Handball
Lake Forest is off this weekend ahead of next week's United States Handball Association Collegiate national Championships, where the Foresters will look to defend their men's, women's, and combined national titles. Head coach Mike Dau '58 will be looking to add to his 49 team championships since starting the program in 1968.
Junior Anthony Collado and senior Matthew Chu defeated sophomores Leo Canales and Ricardo Palma in the Men's A Division final of last weekend's Illinois Handball Association Doubles Tournament. Canales had claimed Open Singles and Doubles (with Palma) titles at the Circle City Tournament in Indianapolis the weekend before.
On the women's side, senior Christi Valicenti was the Open Singles runner-up at Circle City while classmates Lisa Ledvora and Marina Alessi finished second in Open Doubles.
Click here for a composite schedule of all Lake Forest College varsity teams.
