The Lake Forest College women's hockey team defeated visiting College of St. Scholastica 3-1 on Sunday to win their NCHA Quarterfinal series two games to none. Sophomore goaltender Stacey Dierking stopped 30 of 31 shots on goal in the victory, which sends the Foresters to next weekend's O'Brien Cup Tournament at UW-River Falls.
Dierking had 56 saves in 59 chances in the weekend series and is 4-2-0 with a 1.36 goals against average and .950 save percentage in her last six appearances. Dierking was 3-0-1 with a .955 saves percentage in four games against St. Scholastica this season.
Eight different Foresters recorded a point in Sunday's series clincher. Junior Jenn Caldwell started the scoring two minutes and 46 seconds into the contest. Freshman Laura Reckdenwald and sophomore Maeve Connelly assisted on Caldwell's sixth goal of the season. Freshman Marissa Weber lit the lamp just 55 seconds later with sophomore Stephanie Slinde picking up the assist. It was Weber's fifth score of the year. The Saints got on the scoreboard with 3:56 to play in the opening period, which ended with Lake Forest leading 2-1.
Both teams put 10 shots on goal in the first period and the Foresters had a 14-10 edge in that category in a scoreless second.
Lake Forest put 14 more shots on goal to St. Scholastica's 11 in the third period. Senior Jessica Dare helped clinch the victory with her 11th goal of the season at 13:55. She was assisted by classmate Mira Trebilcock and freshman Morgan Pope. Dare has now scored in three straight games.
The Foresters raised their record on the season to 15-9-2 while St. Scholastica fell to 13-9-5.
Lake Forest will face off against Northern Collegiate Hockey Association regular season champion UW-River Falls next Friday night at 7:05. The earlier semifinal will feature UW-Superior and Adrian College and Saturday's O'Brien Cup Championship Game will begin at 4:05 p.m. The tournament winner will earn the league's automatic bid to the NCAA Championship Tournament.
