Foresters Finish Off Sweep of Marian with Shutout

Photo by Sydney Gardner
Photo by Sydney Gardner

Sophomore goaltender Jacque Rogers received the 2018 Ry McCarthy Award during the first intermission of her program record ninth career shutout on Saturday, a 5-0 triumph over visiting Marian University.

Rogers did not need to make a save in an opening period dominated by the home team, which put 17 shots on goal. Sophomore forward Lexi Morgan scored the first of five Forester goals in the period at 8:55, shortly after each team took a penalty. Her team-high 16th tally of the year was assisted by senior forward Olivia Spellmire and senior defenseman Kayla Griffith.

The Lake Forest lead doubled two minutes later when sophomore forward Sydney Simone netted her eighth goal of the year off a pass from freshman Jordan Trapp.

The Foresters were 1-for-5 on the power play in the game with the lone conversion coming exactly 16 minutes into the contest. It was the fifth goal of the season for Griffith, who was assisted by Morgan and Spellmire.

Girffith earned her third point of the afternoon on a goal by Spellmire at 17:38. Freshman forward Megan Lyke also helped set up Spellmire's 15th goal of the year.

Lyke then completed the scoring barrage with 1:44 on the clock. Her 11th score this season was assisted by Spellmire and freshman forward Kristina Bellomo. It was a four-point game and seven-point weekend for Spellmire, who leads the team with 33 points and 18 assists on the year. She also has 114 points after 100 career games.

This year's recipient of the Foresters' annual Ry McCarthy Award was announced between the first two periods and Rogers' parents were on hand to help her accept the award. Ry's mother Sue and a few of the previous winners of the award were on the ice for the presentation.

Rogers then turned away all eight shots on goal she faced in the second period and six more in the third for her fifth shutout of the season. She broke a tie with Alyssa Wintermute, who recorded eight career shutouts from 2007-11. Rogers also improved to 6-4-0 with a 1.59 goals against average and .922 save percentage this winter.

The Foresters finished the afternoon with a 42-14 advantage in shots but were unable to add to their lead. They are now 11-8-0 overall and 9-3-0 in Northern Collegiate Hockey Association play this season while Marian fell to 4-15-0 overall and 3-9-0 in the league.

Lake Forest will host two more conference games against Northland College next weekend. The teams will face off Friday night at 8:00 and the following afternoon at 2:00.