The Lake Forest College men's soccer team blanked visiting Beloit College 6-0 on Thursday to clinch a spot in the 2015 Midwest Conference Tournament. Forester senior forward Dylan Hartman had two goals and two assists in the contest.
Hartman crossed the ball from the right side to sophomore forward John Cappuccitti, who kicked it in from in front of the goal just 89 seconds into the game.
Hartman was the finisher on the Foresters' next score. Senior midfielder Themis Mourikes played the ball into the box to freshman forward Nipun Chauhan, who rolled the ball backward to a streaking Hartman, who found the left side of the net to make the score 2-0.
A Beloit handball in the box gave the home team a penalty kick opportunity at the 23:39 mark and Cappuccitti lifted it into the top-left corner of the goal for his ninth score of the season.
Lake Forest out-shot the Buccaneers 15-1 in the final half and led 3-0 after 45 minutes of play.
The Foresters' fourth goal was scored off a set piece at 58:39. Junior midfielder Ellis Rutili's free kick from 43 yards out was headed past the Beloit goalkeeper by sophomore midfielder Seton Trostle. It was Trostle's second goal of the year.
Hartman scored for the second time in the game and the team-high 11th time this season at 66:21. Sophomore defender Elyas Ingram played the ball from the right side roughly 35 yards out. It was deflected through the Buccaneer defense by the foot of senor midfielder Cesar Sandoval and Hartman beat the goalie to the ball and kicked it in.
Hartman finished off his first career six-point game with an assist on the final score. He took the ball up the right side and crossed it along the ground into the box, where junior forward Colin Jackson let it roll past him to freshman midfielder Sal Gloria. Gloria connected at the 71:34 mark for his third goal of the year. Hartman moved into fifth place in program history with 30 career goals and fourth with 25 assists. His 33 points this season are also tied for the ninth-most in team annals.
The Foresters had an 11-2 advantage in shot attempts after halftime to finish the game with a 26-3 edge in that category.
Freshman goalkeeper Josh Geiger made a pair of saves in his third shutout in the last four contests. George is now 6-0-0 with a 0.64 goals against average and .840 save percentage on the year.
Lake Forest is now 12-5-0 overall and 7-2-0 in conference play this season. Beloit fell to 5-9-1 overall and 4-5-0 in the league.
The Foresters will host St. Norbert College Sunday afternoon at 2:30. The Green Knights enter the regular season finale atop the conference standings at 7-1-1. The winner of the contest will claim the 2015 league title and will host next weekend's four-team MWC Tournament.
