Despite seeing her program record shutout streak come to an end, Allie Carter earned the victory as the Lake Forest College women's hockey team defeated visiting Adrian College, the second-ranked team in the nation, 6-2 Saturday night.
Carter, a senior who transferred from Adrian to Lake Forest during her sophomore year, had recorded shutouts in each of her first three appearances of the season. She also blanked the Bulldogs for the first two periods on Saturday before they finally broke through for a score at 2:35 in the third. That score ended her team record scoreleess streak at 222:35 and trimmed the Foresters' lead in the contest to 3-1.
Lake Forest senior forward Holly Lesperance was pulled down from behind headed toward the goal at the 11:44 mark of the period and she converted the ensuing penalty shot opportunity for her second score of the evening and fourth this year.
Adrian pulled the goaltender while on the power play with 5:21 to play and the move paid off with a goal 39 seconds later, making the score 4-2.
The Bulldogs pulled their goalie again with 4:16 of the clock but this time the move backfired. Forester sophomore forward Olivia Spellmire, who had two goals and an assist on Friday against Finlandia University, scored on the empty net at 16:18 to repeat that stat line on Saturday. Her second score of the night and sixth this season was assisted by senior forward Michelle Greeneway and restored the Foresters' three-goal advantage.
Shortly after coincidental penalties in the final minute, Forester senior Melissa Paluch scored the final goal of the contest with just 13 seconds remaining. Her sixth of the year was assisted by senior defenseman Alex Stensland and freshman forward Amy Budde.
The Foresters had started the scoring with a power play goal by Spellmire at 12:24 in the opening period. She was assisted by Greeneway and sophomore defenseman Kayla Griffith. Stensland doubled the home team's lead at 8:29 in the second on her third goal of the season. Paluch and Budde assisted on the score. The home team's third goal was scored by Lesperance at 11:45 in the second with Spellmire and sophomore forward Leah Ebdon assisting on the play.
After putting a dozen shots on goal to the Bulldogs' three in the first period, Lake Forest was out-shot 12-8 in the second and 11-10 in the third.
Carter is now 4-0-0 this season with a 0.50 goals against average and .968 save percentage.
The Foresters, who entered the weekend ranked ninth in the country, improved to 6-0-1 overall and 4-0-0 in Northern Collegiate Hockey Association play. Adrian fell to 4-2-0 overall and 3-1-0 in the league.
Lake Forest will continue conference play Tuesday night at Concordia University Wisconsin. The contest will begin at 7:00.
