Freshman forward Amy Budde scored one goal and assisted on two others as the Forester women's hockey team, ranked fourth in the nation, hosted and defeated St. Norbert College 6-3 Friday night.
Budde's power play goal gave the home team a 3-0 lead at the 7:03 mark of the second period. Her fifth score of the season was assisted by sophomore forward Leah Ebdon and senior defenseman Alex Stensland. It was the second point of the night for each of the three players. Ebdon and sophomore forward Amanda Brunges assisted junior forward Allie Girard on the game's initial goal at 13:37 in the opening period. Stensland put the Foresters ahead 2-0 on a power play goal at 5:09 in the second with assists credited to Brunges and Budde. Girard how has three goals this year and Stensland eight.
The Green Knights finally got on the scoreboard at the 13:50 mark of the second period and the score was still 3-1 after 40 minutes of play.
The Foresters took a penalty less than a minute into the third period but added their third special teams score of the night 61 seconds later when senior forward Michelle Greeneway netted an unassisted shorthanded goal. It was the fifth career shorthanded score for Greeneway, who became the first player in program history with at least one such goal in each of her four seasons.
The teams continued alternating goals throughout the final period. After St. Norbert converted a power play opportunity at 7:46, Lake Forest senior forward Holly Lesperance lit the lamp 98 seconds later. Brunges and Budde finished off their three-point nights by assisting on the sixth goal of the year for Lesperance.
The visitors pulled back to within two scores with 3:23 to play in the contest. The Knights also put a pair of shots on goal after pulling their goaltender with 2:17 remaining but an empty net goal by Greeneway at 19:13 clinched the Forester victory. Sophomore forward Olivia Spellmire earned her team-high 22nd assist of the season on the 28th goal of the year for Greeneway, who leads the nation. Greeneway also moved into a tie for sixth place in NCAA Division III history with 98 scores in her career.
Forester senior goaltender Allie Carter made 10 saves in the night and tied the program record with her 12th goal of the year. She is now 12-1-0 with a .940 save percentage and 1.08 goals against average.
The victory was the eighth in a row for Lake Forest, which is now 18-1-1 overall and 13-0-0 in Northern Collegiate Hockey Association play, and clinched home-ice advantage for the Foresters in their NCHA Slaats Cup semifinal series in three weeks. St. Norbert fell to 12-8-0 overall and 7-6-0 in the league.
Lake Forest will attempt to match the second-longest winning streak in team history as well as the program's single-season mark for victories against the Green Knights Saturday afternoon at 2:00.
