Foresters Start Fast, Hold on for Victory over FDU-Florham

Photo by Sisi Wattanagool
Photo by Sisi Wattanagool

The Lake Forest College men's lacrosse team scored the first 11 goals of a 13-10 victory over Fairleigh Dickinson University-Florham in Davenport, Florida, on Saturday.

Forester freshman Brendan Herbert scored a season-high five goals, including one just 14 seconds into the contest. He and junior John Casey each hit the net twice in the first quarter, which ended with Lake Forest leading 6-0.

Sophomore Trip Gaston added his 14th goal of the season and Herbert completed his fourth hat trick of the year in the second and the Foresters were ahead 8-0 at halftime.

Herbert struck two more times, increasing his season total to 19, and sophomore Chas Dean scored for the second time on the day and 10th this spring to make it an 11-0 game with 10:37 to play in the third. FDU-Florham got on the scoreboard just eight seconds later but Casey's third of the contest and team-high 21st of the season restored the 11-goal cushion at the midpoint of the period.

The Devils began to come back, however, and four straight goals to close out the quarter made the score 12-5 with 15 minutes left. They added another just 15 seconds into the fourth and, after sophomore Bode Rubright ended the run with his second goal of the game and 16th this year, three more tallies in the next five minutes pulled them to within four.

Lake Forest's defense stiffened and, after eight minute of scoreless play, FDU-Florham struck once more with 46 seconds remaining to account for the final score.

Forester sophomore Conor Murphy finished with a game-high four caused turnovers while classmate Jack Gillard and freshman Simon Colby added two apiece. Murphy also led the team with six ground balls, one more than Casey and two ahead of Gillard.

Freshman goaltender Jacob Lipson made seven saves in his first collegiate victory.

FDU-Florham had an 18-8 advantage on faceoffs.

The win gave the Foresters a split for their two-game Spring Break trip and raised their record on the season to 6-3. The Devils fell to 3-5.

Lake Forest will travel to Hope College next Saturday for a noon (ET) start.