Foresters Sweep St. Scholastica, Finish Second in NCHA

Foresters Sweep St. Scholastica, Finish Second in NCHA

Senior forward Olivia Spellmire had a goal and an assist on Saturday as the Lake Forest College women's hockey team finished off a weekend sweep of visiting College of St. Scholastica with a 4-1 victory.

Spellmire, who was honored along with five other seniors before their final regular season home game, set up the first goal of the game, which was scored by sophomore forward Maddie Davis less than three minutes into the contest. It was the sixth score of the season for Davis and the 40th point of the year for Spellmire, making her just the second player in program history to reach that milestone twice in her career.

The Foresters took a penalty at the 5:50 mark and St. Scholastica tied the score just 12 seconds later. Lake Forest outshot the Saints 18-6 in the opening period but the teams were tied at one when it ended.

Spellmire scored the only goal of the second period, her 19th this season and the 10th game-winner of her career, tying her for third in team history. Sophomore defenseman Amanda Boisjolie and Julia Unterseher assisted on the score.

The visitors had an 11-7 advantage in shots on goal in the second period and an 11-9 edge in the third but were unable to add to their score against Forester sophomore goaltender Jacque Rogers, who made 27 saves on the afternoon and improved to 11-4-0 with a 1.33 goals against average and .931 save percentage on the season.

Lake Forest added an insurance goal off the stick of sophomore forward Sydney Simone at 2:48 in the third period. Simone's 10th goal of the year was set up by junior forward Amy Budde and sophomore forward Kate Fanning.

St. Scholastica pulled its goaltender after a timeout with 2:19 to play and Forester senior defenseman Kaya Griffith finally found the empty net with 46.5 seconds on the clock. Her seventh score this season was unassisted and clinched the victory and second place in the Northern Collegiate Hockey Association standings for Lake Forest.

The Foresters finished the regular season with an eight-game winning streak and a 17-8-0 overall record and 15-3-0 mark in league play. St. Scholastica fell to 15-6-4 overall and 13-3-2 in conference play.

Lake Forest will host an NCHA Slaats Cup quarterfinal series against St. Norbert College next Friday and Saturday.