Sophomore forward Joe Sardina assisted on a pair of goals to maintain his team lead in points as the Lake Forest College men's hockey team skated to a 4-4 tie with Saint Mary's University at home on Saturday.
Sardina and sophomore defenseman Mark DerManulian set up the Foresters' first goal of the contest, a power play score by junior forward Austin Aksoy that tied the score with 6:24 to play in the opening period. It was the second tally of the season for Aksoy. The Cardinals, who had scored a power play goal of their own at 5:27, had a slight 8-7 advantage in shots on goal in the period.
Senior forward Cody Guidorzi gave the home team the lead at the 2:46 mark of the second period with assists credited to fellow senior forward John Nugent and sophomore defenseman Nolan Carothers. The advantage doubled at 7:08 when freshman forward Will Lebel lit the lamp for the first time as a Forester. Carothers earned his second helper of the day, as did Sardina, who leads the team with six assists and eight points on the year. Saint Mary's closed back to within a goal at 10:35 but Lake Forest went into the locker room with a two-goal lead, thanks to Guidorzi's second score of the contest and team-high fourth this season with just three-tenths of a second on the clock. Senior forward Drew Cleerman assisted on the buzzer-beater. Saint Mary's accounted for 16 of the 29 shots on goal in the period.
The visitors had an 18-8 edge in shots on goal in the third period and tied the score with two goals just 25 seconds apart early in the frame.
The Foresters killed the only penalty of the third and escaped another Cardinal power play in the five-minute overtime. Both goaltenders made three saves in the extra period.
Lake Forest is now 2-3-3 and Saint Mary's 0-8-2 this season.
The Foresters will resume Northern Collegiate Hockey Association play next weekend. After hosting Milwaukee School of Engineering friday night at 7:00, Lake Forest will play at Concordia University Wisconsin at the same time on Saturday.