The Aurora University men's lacrosse team fell in the Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference Tournament semi-final in heartbreaking fashion, 12-11 in overtime. The game never saw a lead larger than one goal throughout as the teams went toe to toe with each other.
GAME SCORE: Lake Forest College 12, Aurora University 11 - overtime
RECORDS: Aurora University 13-4 overall and 11-0 NACC
LOCATION: Montgomery, Illinois - Spartan Athletic Park
- LFC struck first scoring with 11:40 left in the first.
- Spartan
Griffin Joas tied the game with an unassisted tally with 6:30 remaining.
- Heading to the second, AU trailed 2-1.
- Early in the second the Spartans struck on a man-up with
Caden Bunes scoring the tying goal.
- Trailing 3-2 late in the second,
Dylan Kranzush scored to tie the game 3-3.
- AU finished the half with two goals, one each from
Chris Bucci and
Tyler Foerstel to head to halftime leading 5-4.
- The third quarter saw the teams trade goals and eventually leads.
-
Owen Spencer, Luke Dupont and Kranzush scored for AU as the game was tied 8-8 going to the fourth.
- The Spartans trailed 9-8 midway through the fourth when Dupont scored back to back goals.
- AU led 10-9 with 5:38 left in the game.
- After LFC knotted the game once again, Spencer tickled the twine to put AU ahead again at 11-10 with 4:43 left.
- Following an inadvertent AU turnover in their offensive zone leading by one with under three minutes left in the game proved costly.
- LFC capitalized and scored with 1:38 left.
- AU did have a last chance with the game tied at 11 and five seconds left.
-
Chris Bucci fired a shot that blistered the post but went out and the game headed to overtime.
- AU had a man-up as overtime started and the LFC goalie made a big save on a chance from Dylan Kanzush.
- LFC went down and scored on their possession, ending the game 12-11 in overtime.
Points: Chris Bucci,
Dylan Kranzush,
Griffin Joas and Luke Dupont (3)
Goals:
Luke DuPont (3)
Assists:
Chris Bucci and
Griffin Joas (2)
Ground balls: Eli Etzler (6) and
Asher Deputy (5)
Caused Turnovers: Gabe Zapf (2)
Saves: Asher Deputy (10)
AU finishes the 2026 season with a 13-4 overall record and were NACC regular season champions.
