The Lake Forest College men's lacrosse team's 12-7 triumph over visiting Cornell College on Saturday was its fourth in as many Midwest Lacrosse Conference games this season and assured the Foresters at least a share of the 2023 MLC title.
Sophomore Conor Murphy accounted for five of the home team's 22 caused turnovers and he also led all players in the contest with a career-high 10 ground balls.
Fellow Forester sophomores Chas Dean and Bode Rubright led the Lake Forest offense with three goals apiece while freshman Brendan Herbert finished with a score and three assists.
Lake Forest scored the first five goals of the game, beginning with Dean at the 12:57 mark of the opening quarter. Herbert, Rubright, sophomore Trip Gaston, and junior John Casey followed and Rubright struck again later in the period to make the score 6-1 after 15 minutes of play.
Both teams scored twice in the second with the Foresters' tallies coming from Dean and freshman Ryan Dousewicz.
Already ahead 8-3, the home team added to its advantage in the third as Dean and Rubright completed their hat tricks and Casey took over the team lead with his 33rd goal of the season. The Rams' second man-up goal of the game late in the period made the score 11-4 going into the fourth.
Three goals from the visitors made it an 11-7 game with six minutes to play but they would get no closer. Lake Forest sophomore Caden Elias netted his first of the season with 3:48 on the clock to close out the scoring.
Freshman John O'Reilly won 12 of 20 faceoffs for the Foresters, who were a perfect 20-for-20 on clears while the Rams were just 18-of-33 and committed 38 turnovers. Lake Forest outshot its guests 67-19 and Forester sophomore goalie Andrew Widlar made four saves while picking up the victory.
The Foresters improved to 10-4 overall and 4-0 in MLC play this season. Cornell fell to 4-11 with one victory in five league games.
Lake Forest, which has already clinched the top seed in the four-team MLC Tournament, can secure the conference championship outright with a victory in next Saturday's regular season finale against visiting University of Northwestern. The Foresters' Senior Day game will begin at 2:00 p.m.