The NCAA announced the 12 teams that will participate in the 2020 Division III Championship Tournament and, for the first time since 1991, Lake Forest College is part of that field.
The Foresters, who are 18-6-3 on the season, will host the University of St. Thomas in Saturday's opening round at 7:00 p.m. The Tommies are 15-10-3 and earned an automatic bid to the national playoffs by winning the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Tournament.
Lake Forest's record is the team's best since the 1990-91 squad went 18-6-2 and made the program's last trip to the NCAA Tournament, where they were eliminated by the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point in the opening round. The Foresters' only other NCAA Tournament appearance came in 1978, when they won a program record 23 games against just five losses and were the Division II runners-up.
St. Thomas is making the program's 17th NCAA Tournament appearance but first since 2014. The Tommies best finish in the national playoffs is also second and was achieved in 2000 and again in 2005.
The winner of Saturday's game will travel to the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire for a quarterfinal round match-up on Saturday, March 21. The four quarterfinal winners will convene in Buffalo, New York, for the national semifinals and championship game March 27-28.