Lake Forest Blanks Illinois College, Remains in MWC Title Hunt

Photo by Abby King
Photo by Abby King

Forester junior John Cappuccitti assisted on the game's first goal and scored the other two in a 3-0 victory over Illinois College at home on Sunday.

Cappuccitti entered the contest as the team's leader in goal and assists with six apiece. He earned his seventh assist on a well-placed cross from the right side to freshman Lucas Geib, who slid in front of the Blueboy goalkeeper and scored his third goal of the season at the 29:12 mark.

The second Forester goal was scored by Cappuccitti and assisted by senior Fernando Figueroa. Figueroa's cross from the left sideline was headed nearly straight up in the air by an Illinois College defender, Cappuccitti then headed it past the goalie into the far left side of the goal to make the score 2-0.

Cappuccitti scored the final goal of the contest all by himself. He gained control of the ball on the left side of the field and blasted it past the keeper into the left side of the goal from nearly 30 yards out. Cappuccitti now has 23 points this season on eight goals and seven assists.

Lake Forest out-shot the Blueboys 16-1 in the first half and 12-3 during a scoreless second period.

Three Forester goalkeepers saw action in the contest. The victory went to sophomore Tero Elias, who made one save in nearly 53 minutes of work. Classmate Elvin Husetovic added another save in almost 24 minutes and junior Josh Geiger kept Illinois College off the scoreboard for the final 13-plus minutes.

Lake Forest is now 9-7-0 overall this season an 7-1-0 in Midwest Conference play. Illinois College fell to 3-10-3 overall and 2-6-0 in the legaue.

The Foresters will host Illinois Institute of Technology in a non-conference game Tuesday afternoon at 4:00 before closing out the regular season against visiting Ripon College at noon on Sunday. A Lake Forest victory on Sunday coupled with a Knox College loss or tie at home against St. Norbert College on Saturday would give the Foresters the program's third MWC title in the last five years and 17th overall.