The Lake Forest College women's hockey team was defeated 4-1 by host University of Wisconsin-River Falls Saturday in the quarterfinals of the NCAA Tournament. Sophomore defenseman Alex Stensland scored her third goal of the season for the Foresters.
Stensland lit the lamp with just 24 seconds to play in the game. She was assisted by sophomore forward Holly Lesperance. Lake Forest scored at least once in every game this season, becoming the first team in program history to accomplish that feat.
River Falls, which entered the game ranked fourth in the nation by USCHO.com and D3hockey.com, scored the only goal of the opening period with 6:56 on the clock and added scores at 9:16 and 10:50 in the second. The Falcons netted their final goal of the afternoon while on the power play at 11:45 in the third.
The home team outshot the Foresters 9-4 in the first period, 10-6 in the second, and 8-6 in the third.
Lake Forest, which was ranked eighth in the country by D3hockey.com and ninth by USCHO.com, finished the season with a 17-6-3 record. It was the Foresters' first trip to the NCAA tournament. River Falls advances to next weekend's NCAA Division III Frozen Four at 22-4-3.
Forest seniors Sarah Gilbride, Maeve Connelly, and Stacey Dierking finish their careers after helping lead the team to a 61-32-12 record over the last four seasons.