A goal by freshman forward Anthony Annunziato two minutes and six seconds into overtime gave the Lake Forest College men's hockey team a crucial 4-3 victory over visiting Marian University in their weekend series opener Saturday night. The Foresters are now 5-5-0 in Northern Collegiate Hockey Association play this season.
Annunziato's second goal of the season was assisted by junior defenseman Ben Certo, who now had seven points in his last four games. It was the first overtime goal by a Forester since the team won 7-6 at Milwaukee School of Engineering on February 27, 2010.
Forester freshman forward Just Pelock also netted his second goal of the year to start the scoring at the 6:07 mark of the opening period. The power play goal was set up by junior forward Mcauley Banning and junior defenseman Charlie Stein. Marian, however tied the game at 11:22 and the score was still 1-1 after 20 minutes of play.
Junior forward Luke Swardenski regained the lead for the home team 13 minutes and 15 seconds into the second period. Certo assisted on Swardenski's fourth goal of 2013-14. The Sabres tied the score again at the 14:54 mark but the Foresters went ahead again 61 seconds later on senior forward Mike Violette's fifth goal of the year. He was assisted by Swardenski and junior forward Bobby Barrett.
Trailing 3-2 going into the third, Marian tied the game for a third time five minutes and 36 seconds into the period. The score remained 3-3 until Annunziato's overtime goal.
Lake Forest sophomore goaltender Leo Podolsky made 31 saves to earn the victory, including 14 in the first period. He is now 5-1-1 with a .914 save percentage and 2.67 goals against average this year.
In addition to evening their NCHA record at 5-5-0, the Foresters pulled to within a game of .500 overall with a mark of 7-8-1. Marian fell to 4-10-2 overall and 3-5-1 in the league. The same two teams will face off again Sunday afternoon at 4:00 as the home-and-home series shifts to the Sabres' home in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin.
