The Lake Forest College men's soccer team was defeated 3-0 by visiting Luther College Thursday in the first round of the NCAA Division III Tournament. It was the Foresters' first trip to the national tourney since 1980.
The Foresters had an 8-5 advantage in shots in the first half and each team put just one shot on target. Luther scored the only goal of the period with 9:04 on the clock.
The visitors had the wind at their backs and the better of the play in the second half. The Norse, who outshot the Foresters 7-2 in the period, added to their lead at the 48:32 mark and tacked on another insurance goal with 30:12 to play.
Luther, which raised its record to 15-6-0, advances to play at Loras College in the second round on Sunday.
Lake Forest finished the season 14-7-0. The Foresters had secured a spot in the NCAA Tourney by winning the Midwest Conference Tournament final last Saturday, a week after clinching the 16th league championship in program history.
The Foresters will lose seniors Ethan Guenther, Giancarlo Colasanti, Mahir Mameledzija, Jordan Hartman, Alexi Spiratos, Charlie Brey, and Steven Johnson to graduation. The five field players have combined for 279 points on 103 goals and 73 assists over their careers and the two goalkeepers posted a combined record of 30-10-3 with 143 saves and 16 shutouts as Foresters. Lake Forest has gone 54-20-4 and claimed a pair of conference titles over the last four seasons.