Cornell’s men saw their record-breaking season end Wednesday night with a 12-6 loss to second-seeded Lake Forest in the semifinals of the Midwest Lacrosse Conference Tournament at Mohr Field.
Coach Lane Zierten’s third-seeded Rams bowed out in the semis for the second consecutive year, finishing a successful campaign at 7-10 overall after going 4-2 in league play. The seven wins tied the 2017 squad for the most in program history.
Lake Forest (8-6) recorded its sixth straight win and advances to Saturday’s championship against Dubuque for the MLC’s automatic berth to the NCAA Division III Tournament.
The Rams made a strong push late in the second quarter, striking three times in the final 2:23 to knot the contest at 4-4 going into halftime. Lake Forest regained control with five unanswered goals over the initial eight minutes the third quarter for a 9-4 lead, proving to be the turning point in the game.
Cornell senior Kyle Jussila stamped a sensational season – and career – by netting the team’s final goal with 5:55 left in regulation. The most prolific scorer in school history had three goals on the night, bumping his career count to 106.
John Linderman, Jackson Kinart and Ethan Kupka added one goal apiece for the Rams, who held a 42-31 advantage in ground balls, led by a game-high seven from Demarius Pittman. Lake Forest outshot the Rams, 41-39.
Sophomore goalie Evan Begner collected 13 saves and concluded the season with a school-record 221. Freshman Ash Hoelscher won 14-of-22 faceoffs and had six ground balls. Senior newcomer Justin Howe added three more caused turnovers to his school-record total of 35.
Luke Bowers netted five goals and one assist to pace Lake Forest.