The Lake Forest College men's soccer team defeated visiting St. Norbert College 4-0 in the final of the Midwest Conference Tournament on Saturday. Along with the tourney title comes the league's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament, which will begin on Friday, November 15.
The Hartman brothers, sophomore Dylan and senior Jordan, contributed to each of the Foresters' first three goals of the game. Dylan Hartman kicked in the first at the 32:35 mark after a shot by senior Mahir Mameledzija caromed to him off the crossbar. It was Dylan's eighth goal of the season.
Lake Forest outshot the visitors 11-1 in the game's first 45 minutes but held just a slim 1-0 lead at halftime.
After surviving a strong opening to the second half by the Green Knights. the Foresters doubled their lead at the 52:34 mark when Jordan Hartman received a perfect through ball from his brother Dylan, redirected it past the charging St. Norbert goalkeeper, and kicked it in for his third goal of the season.
The Foresters' third goal of the game cam off the foot of junior Maximus Shaw less than four minutes later. Jordan Hartman assisted on Shaw's first goal of the season.
The final goal of the contest was scored by freshman Ellis Rutili at 73:50. His third goal of the year was set up by sophomore Jeremiah Erzen and junior Hugh Watanabe.
Lake Forest had a 6-4 advantage in shot in the second half and a 17-5 edge in the contest.
Forester senior goalkeeper Ethan Guenther made a pair of saves in the game and is now 9-3-0 with a 0.65 goals against average and .841 save percentage this season.
The Foresters, who claimed the 16th MWC championship in program history with a 9-1-0 league record, improved their overall mark to 14-6-0. Their 14 victories are the third-highest total in team history. St. Norbert finished the year 9-8-3.
The bracket for the 2013 NCAA Division III Men's Soccer Tournament will be released on Monday.
