The Lake Forest College men's soccer team was defeated 3-2 at Wheaton College in the opening round of the NCAA Division III Tournament on Friday. The Foresters, who were making their second trip to the national tournament in the last three years, finished the season 13-7-1.
Lake Forest took the early lead just five minutes and 19 seconds into the contest. Senior forward Dylan Hartman took a pass from sophomore forward Finnian Bunta and, from close range, scored his team-high 13th goal of the season. Hartman, the 2015 Midwest Conference Player of the Year, finished his career ranked sixth in program history with 89 career points, fifve with 32 goals, and fourth with 25 assists.
Wheaton tied the game at the 8:44 mark and pulled ahead at 18:05.
The score remained 2-1 for the rest of the first half. The Thunder had a 15-5 advantage in shots in the opening period.
Forester junior forward Colin Jackson blasted a shot from 35 yards out past the Wheaton goalkeeper just 30 seconds into the second half to tie the score. It was Jackson's first goal of the year.
Despite Wheaton's 12-6 advantage in shots in the second half, the game appeared headed to overtime until the Thunder scored on a header off a corner kick with just 31.5 seconds on the clock.
Lake Forest freshman goalkeeper Elvin Husetovic made four saves in each half for a season-high eight in the game.
Looking toward next season, the Foresters will lose Hartman and fellow seniors Jeremiah Erzen, Evan Vogel, Themis Mourikes, Cesar Sandoval, and John Palutsis to graduation in May. They have helped lead Lake Forest to a 49-27-4 record, two conference titles, and a pair of NCAA Tournament appearances over the last four years.
