Lake Forest College Sports Information
Contact: Mike Wajerski, SID

2005 Preview: When the Year Ends in Five...
  

Alex Lofgren is looking forward to a successful senior season.
In 1965, the Forester men’s soccer team posted a 10-2-0 record, the best mark in the program’s first five seasons. In 1975, the team went 11-1-0, set a new school record for victories, and claimed the program’s first outright conference championship. Ten years later, the 1985 Foresters’ 11-3-0 mark matched their record for wins and the team claimed a share of the conference title. In 1995, Head Coach Ed Kositzki’s second season, Lake Forest established new school records with 17 victories (against just one defeat) and 72 goals and captured yet another Midwest Conference crown.

Now it’s 2005 and the squad appears poised for another run at a conference championship. The Foresters had just three seniors in 2004, posted a 12-2-2 overall record and 5-2-2 mark in the league, and outscored their opponents by a 42-23 margin. Their top four scorers are expected back, including Second Team All-Region selection Sam Figueroa. Figueroa’s 17 points on seven goals and three assists matched the total from Walter Echeverry, who scored five times and added seven assists. Both players earned First Team All-MWC honors. “Sam and Walter not only work very well together,” touts Kositzki. “But they make the players around them better as well.”

Figueroa and Echeverry do not represent the only firepower or the only award-winners the team has returning. Nine of the 11 players with at least five points last season are expected back, including Second Team All-MWC selection Alex Lofgren, who has excelled at every position on the field during his Forester career and had two goals and five assists last season.

The Forester defense was also strong in 2004 as opponents managed only 23 goals, including just three in the team’s season-ending five-game winning streak. Goalkeeper Pat Witwicki was 7-1-0 with a 1.27 goals against average.

“We have a lot of talented players coming back in 2005,” Kositzki begins. “In addition, we have a system in place where, like cogs in a wheel, our overall success is dependent on the contributions and dedication of each and every player.”