Sophomore forward Joe Sardina had a goal and assist to help lead the Foresters to a 4-1 victory over Lawrence University Saturday night.
Sardina would get the first tally of the day, scoring from the goal line for his seventh of the season at 17:09 in the first period. Freshman forward Cullen Kane picked up the assist on the goal. Lake Forest outshot Lawrence 13-2 in the first 20 minutes and went into the locker room leading 1-0.
Lawrence got on the board at 4:12 in the second frame on a quick shot following a face-off win in the offensive zone.
The Foresters went on the man advantage late in the second and converted with just five seconds remaining in the power play. Senior forward Bron Loiselle received a beautiful cross ice feed in the offensive zone from senior defenseman Ryan Kruss and roofed it over the goalie, giving the home team a 2-1 lead with 2:10 on the clock. Loiselle's third score of the season and second this weekend was also assisted by junior defenseman Connor Duncan. Lake Forest had 17 shots in the second period and held the game advantage 30-8 after 40 minutes of play.
Sophomore defenseman Mark Dermanulian, an offensive weapon as of late with nine points in his last eight games, blasted one on net from the right point, which redirected off of sophomore forward Kyler Magus and into the goal, making the score 3-1 with 9:52 left in the third.
One of Lake Forest's prettiest goals of the season came a few minutes later and was set up by Sardina on a 2-on-1 rush. The Red Oak, Texas, native found Kane on the back door and he slammed it home for his fourth of the season, making it a 4-1 lead at 13:01 of the final frame.
Lake Forest senior goaltender George Argiropoulos continued his recent run of success, stopping 18 of 19 Viking shots on goal, including 11 in the final period. Argiropoulos surrendered just one goal on 40 shots this weekend and is now 6-1-2 on the season and ranked among the top four in the nation in save percentage (.947) and goals against average (1.42).
The Foresters finished with a 42-19 advantage in shots on goal on the night.
The victory extended Lake Forest's winning streak to five games and the Foresters are now 10-5-4 overall and 8-2-2 in Northern Collegiate Hockey Association play. Lawrence fell to 4-14-1 overall and 2-9-1 in the league.
The Foresters will head to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, next Friday to take on Milwaukee School of Engineering at 7:05 p.m. before returning home for a Saturday night contest against Concordia University Wisconsin. Saturday will be Alumni Night and the annual Peter Taylor Award presentation will be made during the first intermission of the 7:00 p.m. game.
by Cam McGuire