The Forester men's hockey team suffered its first loss of the season on Saturday, a 4-3 decision at Northland College. Senior defenseman Ben Certo scored to pull Lake Forest to within a goal with 11:21 to play, but the visitors were unable to complete the comeback.
Northland actually came back twice in the contest. Forester senior forward Bobby Barrett started the scoring at the 6:17 mark of the opening period. His second score of the season was assisted by sophomore forward Jack Lewis. The LumberJacks drew even six minutes later but Lake Forest regained the lead at 15:32 on senior defenseman Andrew Stein's first goal of the year. He was assisted by sophomore forward Anthony Annunziato and junior forward Ian Pichel.
The home team tied the score with 1:34 to play in the first, took a 3-2 lead at 11:44 in the second, and added an important insurance goal with three-and-half minutes remaining in the second.
Forester junior goaltender Leo Podolsky came on after the LumberJacks' fourth goal and held them scoreless before exiting for an extra attacker with a minute to play.
Lake Forest out-shot Northland 15-7 in the final period and 32-26 in the contest.
The Foresters are now 2-1-0 overall this season and 1-1-0 in Northern Collegiate Hockey Associaion play. Northland raised its overall and league records to 1-3-0.
Lake Forest will play a home-and-home series with St. Norbert College next weekend. The teams will face off in Lake Forest at 7:30 Friday night and on the Green Knights' home ice Saturday at 7:00 p.m.