The Forester men's soccer team returns to the NCAA Division III Tournament this weekend after earning an automatic bid from the Midwest Conference for the fourth time in the last decade. It will be the ninth trip to the NCAA Tournament in program history.
St. Olaf College will be the Foresters' opening round opponent and the game is scheduled to be played at regional host North Central College Saturday night at 8:00.
Lake Forest enters the tournament with an overall record of 8-8-3 and captured the 18th conference title in team history with a 5-1-3 mark in league play. The Foresters won last weekend's MWC Tournament in dramatic fashion, scoring twice in the final minute of regulation and once more in the second overtime in the semifinals on Friday and netting the game-winning goal with just 22.1 seconds on the clock in Saturday's final.
St. Olaf College will be Lake Forest's fifth opponent to be ranked in the top 25 nationally at some point this season. The Oles are 13-5-1 overall and finished second in the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference standings with a 7-2-1 record in the league. They also earned an automatic bid to the NCAA Playoffs by prevailing 2-1 in their conference tournament final, defeating Gustavus Adolphus College, which was ranked fifth in the nation at the time.
Gustavus Adolphus is one of two common opponents between the Foresters and Oles. The Gusties posted one-goal victories over both teams, edging out Lake Forest at a neutral site in the season opener and St. Olaf at home in mid-October. North Park University is the other, having hosted and defeated both teams during non-conference play in September.
Both teams will be taking on the challenge of playing away from home. They combined for a 14-1-3 record on their own campuses and a 7-12-1 mark in road and neutral site games. The Foresters have the advantage of having played earlier in the season at North Central, where they dropped a one-goal decision to a team now ranked among the top 10 in the country.
The results mentioned above are just a few of many close contests for these teams. Lake Forest has posted a 5-4-3 record in games decided by no more than a goal while St. Olaf is 3-4-1.
The Foresters are led offensively by freshman midfielder Karl Weisenfeld, who has a dozen points on six goals, including a pair of game-winners. Junior forward Elliot Hull is next on the team with eight points and is one of four Foresters with three tallies this fall. Another is Rayan Khalid, who scored the game-winning goal in both of last weekend's MWC Tournament triumphs. Junior goalkeeper Szymon Mocarski has been stellar as the last line of defense for the team, going 7-2-2 with a 0.76 goals against average and .836 save percentage on the year.
St. Olaf has three players who have surpassed the 20-point mark this fall and three others in double figures. Defensively, the Oles have posted 11 shutouts with a pair of goalies combining for a 0.89 goals against average and .785 save percentage.
Lake Forest Head Coach Dan Andrews is 71-59-8 in his eighth season at the College. He has led the Foresters to a pair of conference titles and three NCAA Tournament appearances.
St. Olaf is 41-18-2 in four years with Travis Wall as head coach. The Oles captured a conference title in 2021 and have earned their second straight berth in the NCAA Tournament.
These two programs have met twice before and both games went to the home team by a single goal. Lake Forest defeated St. Olaf 1-0 in overtime late in the 1994 season and the Oles began 2008 with a 2-1 triumph over the Foresters.
Saturday's meeting will take place at North Central's Benedetti-Wehrli Stadium with kickoff scheduled for 8:00 p.m. The weather forecast calls for a high of 37 degrees during the day and a low in the mid-20s overnight.
The winner will advance to Sunday's 7:00 p.m. final against either North Central or University of Wisconsin-Superior.