The Lake Forest College women's hockey team finished off a weekend sweep of visiting St. Olaf College with an 8-5 victory on Sunday. Forester senior Lynn Switaj scored three times for her first career hat trick.
The eight goals were the most scored by Lake Forest since defeatign Augsburg College 8-1 on January 5, 2009, and they matched the third-highest single-game total in team history. The Foresters outshot the Oles 52-32 in the contest.
The Foresters took the early lead on a power play goal by senior Sam Herron at the 5:51 mark of the opening period. Juniors Jessica Dare and Mora Trebilcock assisted on Herron's second score of the season. Switaj then lit the lamp for the first time in 2010-11 at 10:42 with Herron and junior Molly Wallner each credited with an assist. Lake Forest then extended its lead to 3-1 on an unassisted goal by sophomore Rosy Fujimoto at 14:46.
St. Olaf finally got on the scoreboard at the 16:18 mark of the first period but the Foresters responded with Fujimoto's second unassisted goal of the game with 59 seconds left before the first intermission. It was also her second score of the season and gave the home team a 4-1 advantage after 20 minutes of play.
Senior Melissa Kravich started the second period scoring at the 8:14 mark. Dare and freshman Stephanie Slinde assisted on Kravich's second goal of the year.
After the Oles converted a power play opportunity at 14:47, the Foresters regained their four-goal lead on Switaj's second score of the game just 65 seconds later. Herron and Trebilcock assisted on the score, which put Lake Forest ahead 6-2 going into the third period.
St. Olaf trimmed the margin to 6-3 at the 5:52 mark but Switaj completed her hat trick with an unassisted goal just 72 seconds later.
St. Olaf scored again at 13:59 but committed a penalty at 14:11 and gave up a power play goal by Slinde just six seconds later. Slinde's first career goal was assisted by Kravich and freshman Sarah Gilbride.
The visitors closed out the scoring with a power play goal with just 24 seconds remaining in the contest.
Lake Forest junior goaltender Brittany Lemke registered the victory, raising her record on the season to 2-0-0 and in her Forester career to 11-5-0.
The Foresters will begin Northern Collegiate Hockey Association play next weekend at the College of St. Scholastica. The teams will face off at 7:00 Friday night and 2:00 Saturday afternoon.
