The Forester men's lacrosse team erased a four-goal deficit in the fourth quarter and prevailed 11-10 at Hanover College on Wednesday.
Freshman Will Kerber scored the game-winner with just 21 seconds remaining. He took a pass from fellow freshman Jack Langworthy, turned, and bounced the ball under the goalie and into the net for his fifth goal of the season. Freshman Caden Elias won the ensuing faceoff with classmate Andrew Eisenman picking up the ground ball and the visitors ran out the clock for the victory.
Hanover led 10-6 early in the fourth quarter but Lake Forest rallied with two goals from freshman Chas Dean and one each from sophomore John Casey and freshman Trip Gaston, who tied the game with 4:38 remaining.
Casey finished the game with a hat trick and leads the team with a dozen goals and 16 points this season. Gaston's game-tying score was his second of the contest and he now has eight on the year. Dean and freshman Luke Bowers also scored twice on Wednesday and have four goals on the season. In addition to setting up the game-winner, Langworthy scored for the second time this season and added another assist.
The Foresters trailed 3-2 after the first quarter, 5-4 at halftime, and 8-6 after three quarters, despite out-shooting the Panthers 42-32 in the contest.
In addition to scoring three times, Casey assisted on another goal, led the squad with six ground balls, and tied for the team lead with Langworthy and Eiserman with three caused turnovers.
Freshman goalie Andrew Widlar made at least one save in each period and seven in the game.
The victory evened the Foresters' record at 2-2 while Hanover fell to 3-2.
Lake Forest will return home to host Marian University Saturday afternoon at 2:00.