The Lake Forest College women's hockey team defeated visiting St. Norbert College 4-1 Saturday night and moved into second place in the Northern Collegiate Hockey Association standings. Forester sophomore forward Michelle Greeneway scored three times on the night for her third hat trick of the season.
Greeneway scored what turned out to be the official game-winning goal at the 11:57 mark of the opening period, netted her second of the game at 11:13 in the second, and completed the hat trick at 11:50 in the third. She is now tied for the NCHA lead with 22 goals on the season and ranks fourth in the league with 32 points. She is the first Forester with at least 30 points in back-to-back seasons since Courtney DeHoey accomplished the feat in 2007 and her 67 career points rank eight in team history, just one shy of Jessica Dare. Greeneway has recorded at least one point in each of her last 16 games.
Forester sophomore forward Melissa Paluch assisted on each of Greeneway's goals and is now tied for the team lead with 15 assists on the year. Fellow sophomore forward Logan Taylor also assisted on the second period goal and sophomore defenseman Alex Stansland helped set up the final score. They also have 15 assists apiece this season.
Lake Forest's first goal of the night was score by junior forward Morgan Pope two minutes and 50 seconds into the game. Her 15th goal of 2013-14 was assisted by sophomore forward Holly Lesperance.
The Foresters outshot their guests 16-6 in the game's first 20 minutes, 13-9 in the second period, and 11-8 in the third.
The only goal surrendered by Lake Forest senior goaltender Stacey Dierking occurred at the 4:28 mark of the final period. She finished with 22 saves on the night and improved to 4-1-2 on the year.
The Foresters are now 12-4-3 overall this season and 10-3-2 with 22 points in NCHA play. They are just two points behind league leader College of St. Scholastica, which has played one more game than Lake Forest. St. Norbert fell to 15-6-2 overall and the Green Knights' 10-5-1 record in league games places them just behind the Foresters with 21 points.
Lake Forest will travel to the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point, the sixth-ranked team in the nation according to USCHO.com, on Sunday for a 3:00 p.m. non-conference tilt. The Foresters will then host Adrian College, which is fourth in the conference standings with 20 points, next Saturday night at 7:00.
