Sophomore goaltender Jacque Rogers set a program record with her seventh shutout of the season as the Lake Forest College women's hockey team hosted and defeated St. Norbert College 4-0 Friday night.
Rogers made 17 saves on the night, including eight in the final period, to break a tie for the single-season shutout mark with Allie Carter, who blanked six opponents during the 2015-16 season. Despite being in just her second season at the College, Rogers is also the program's career leader in that category with 11. She is now 12-4-0 with a .935 save percentage and 1.25 goals against average this year.
Four different Foresters scored in the contest, beginning with freshman forward Kristen Bellomo at the 8:48 mark of the opening period. She was among several players battling for the puck in front of the St. Norbert goal and found a way to push it over the line for her sixth score of the season. Senior forward Olivia Spellmire was credited with the first of three assists on the night.
Spellmire also set up the team's second goal at 15:33 in the first. Her shot was saved but freshman forward Megan Lyke was there for the rebound and lit the lamp for the 13th time this year. Sophomore defenseman Julia Unterseher also assisted on the play.
Lake Forest scored two goals in the second period, the first off the stick of junior forward Amy Budde at 12:53. Her 16th goal of the season was assisted by sophomore forward Sydney Simone and sophomore defenseman Amanda Boisjolie.
What turned out to be the final goal of the contest was scored by senior defenseman Kayla Griffith with 3:04 remaining in the second. She blasted a shot into the upper-right corner of the net from just inside the blue line. Her sixth score of the season came on the power play and was assisted by Spellmire, who now ranks tied-for-third in the country with 25 helpers on the year. She also raised her school record career total in that category to 76.
The Foresters out-shot the Green Knights 11-3 in the fist period and 10-6 in the second. Both teams put eight shots on goal in the final 20 minutes.
Lake Forest improved to 18-8-0 while St. Norbert fell to 9-13-4. The teams will face off in game two of their quarterfinal series of the 2018 Northern Collegiate Hockey Association Slaats Cup Playoffs Saturday evening at 5:00. A Forester win or tie would send the team to next weekend's semifinal round while the Green Knights need to prevail to force a 20-minute minigame, which would begin shortly after game two ends and decide which team advances.
