Mahir Mameledzija Breaks Foresters' Career Goals Record in Victory at Cornell

Mahir Mameledzija Breaks Foresters' Career Goals Record in Victory at Cornell

The Lake Forest College men's soccer team won 5-0 at Cornell College Sunday afternoon. Forester senior Mahir Mameledzija scored three times and moved into first place in program history with 62 career goals.

Mameledzija's first goal of the game made the score 2-0 less than nine minutes into the contest. He added scores at 54:42 and 74:16 for his fourth career hat trick.

Freshman Ellis Rutili had given the Foresters the early lead on his first career goal at 7:59. He was assisted by juniors Cooper King and Kyle Kraus.

Senior Jordan Hartman assisted Mameledzija's first goal and classmate Alexi Spiratos set up the second. Junior Maximus Shaw earned the assist on Mameledzija's third score of the game and team-high ninth this season.

Junior Hugh Watanabe tacked on the game's final goal with 3:30 remaining. His second score this season was assisted by sophomore Sakhile Nkambule.

Cornell was limited to just two shots the entire game and Forester junior goalkeeper Ian Taylor needed just one save to hold the Rams scoreless for the first 72 minutes and 27 seconds. Freshman Kristian Nillsen replaced Taylor and kept the home team off the scoreboard for the final 17-and-a-half minutes.

Lake Forest attempted 30 shots in the contest, including 21 after halftime.

The Foresters evened their overall record at 4-4-0 and finished their opening weekend of Midwest Conference play with a pair of victories. Cornell fell to 2-5-0 overall and 0-2-0 in the league.

Lake Forest will continue MWC play next Saturday against visiting St. Norbert College. The game will begin at 3:30 p.m.