The Lake Forest College women's hockey team was unable to come back a third time in a 5-4 loss to visiting Adrian College Friday night. The Foresters entered the weekend ranked sixth in the nation and the Bulldogs second.
All four Forester goals came on the power play, beinning with junior defenseman Caroline Campbell's fifth of the season at 5:40 in the opening period. Sophomore forward Amy Budde and freshman forward Sydney Simone assisted on the game's first score.
Adrian put 20 shots on goal in the game's first 20 minutes and tied the score at the 9:37 mark. The Bulldogs grabbed the lead on a short-handed goal at 14:57 and went ahead by two in the final minute before the first intermission.
Lake Forest responded with the only two goals of the second, despite being outshot 14-6 in the period. Freshman defenseman Julia Unterseher started the comeback with her seventh of the season at 4:36. Freshman forward Kate Fanning and junior forward Amanda Brunges assisted on the score. Junior forward/defenseman Kayla Griffith then tied the score at the 8:01 mark on her ninth goal this season. Budde recorded her second assist of the night and team-high 36th point this season on the play.
After the visitors regained the lead at 3:11 in the third, the Foresters tied the game again at the 8:31 mark on the eighth goal of the season by Brunges. Junior forward Olivia Spellmire assisted on the score.
The Bulldogs netted what proved to be the game-winner with 2:49 remaining in the contest.
Adrian kept the pressure on freshman goaltender Jacque Rogers and the Foresters were unable to pull their goalie late in the game. Rogers finished the night with 46 saves, the most by a Lake Forest netminder in more than five years. Her save total on the night also matched the 10th-highest mark in program history.
Lake Forest fell to 20-3-1 overall and 14-2-1 in the Northern Collegiate Hockey Association. Adrian improved to 22-2-0 and clinched the 2016-17 regular season NCHA title with a league mark of 17-0-0. The same two teams will face off again in the regular season finale Saturday afternoon at 2:00.
