Needing a victory against Midwest Conference champion Knox College to avoid an abrupt end to the 2014 season, the Lake Forest College men's soccer team prevailed 2-1 on Saturday. Forester senior Kyle Kraus started the scoring 12 minutes into the contest.
Kraus stepped up and got in the way when a Knox defender looked to play the ball forward more than 50 yards from his goal. The ball caromed forward off Kraus, who raced ahead of a pair of defenders and snuck the ball past the keeper into the right side of the goal. It was the second goal of the year by Kraus, who recently moved to forward from defense.
Lake Forest was out-shot 4-3 in the opening half but still led 1-0, thanks in part to a pair of saves in the period by senior Ian Taylor.
It appeared as if the home team had clinched the victory when junior Dylan Hartman beat a pair of defenders and the goalie for his fifth score of the season at the 86:37 mark. However, the Prairie Fire took advantage of a breakaway opportunity with 50 seconds to play and scored on their only shot of the second half. The Foresters attempted 14 shots during the game's final 45 minutes.
Lake Forest held on for the victory and improved to 7-9-2 overall and 6-2-2 in MWC play. Knox fell to 14-3-0 and finished 9-1-0 in the league.
The Foresters finished second in the conference standings and will take on Carroll University, the #3 seed, in the semifinal of the MWC Tournament next Friday. The event will be hosted by Knox.