Head Coach Carisa Wahlig earned her 200th career victory on Saturday as the Lake Forest College women's hockey team blanked visiting St. Norbert College 8-0 to sweep their two-game quarterfinal series in the 2018 Northern Collegiate Hockey Association Slaats Cup Playoffs.
Less than 24 hours after four Foresters scored in a 4-0 game one victory, six others lit the lamp on Saturday, beginning with senior defenseman Melissa Bodine at the 5:38 mark of the opening period. Her first score this season was assisted by junior forward Amy Budde and sophomore forward Maddie Davis.
The second goal of the contest was the 20th of the season for senior Olivia Spellmire. She tucked a shot just inside the left post at 10:46 to become just the second player in team history with at least 20 goals and 20 assists in the same season.
Freshman forward Annie Dalton became the sixth Forester to reach doubles figures in goals this season when she scored at the 19:29 mark. The final tally of the first period was assisted by sophomore defenseman Julia Unterseher and sophomore forward Lexi Morgan.
After out-shooting the Green Knights 13-5 in the first 20 minutes of the game, the Foresters had a 14-5 advantage in that category in the second period. The first and last of six goals in the stanza came from sophomore forward Kate Fanning, who entered the contest with just one score on the season. Both goals, the first at 11:51 and the other at 19:25, were set up by Budde and sophomore forward Sydney Simone.
A period after Spellmire caught her, Morgan regained the team lead in goals with her 21st of the season at 14:10. Senior defenseman Caroline Campbell picked up an assist on the play. Spellmire, however matched Morgan again at the 17:18 mark with freshman forward Megan Lyke assisting. Morgan and Spellmire are now tied-for-eighth in the nation in goals this season.
The Foresters' first power play opportunity of the night began with 62 seconds remaining in the second period and ended when Unterseher scored just 18 seconds later. Her eighth goal of the year was assisted by Spellmire and Davis and preceeded Fanning's second score of the game by just nine seconds.
St. Norbert had a 6-3 edge in shots on goal in the final period but Lake Forest sophomore goaltender Jacque Rogers turned away each of them to secure her second shutout of the weekend and program record eighth this season. She has now held the Foresters' opponent scoreless in 12 of 35 career starts and ranks sixth in the nation with a 1.17 goals against average and 17th with a save percentage of .938 on the year.
Lake Forest improved to 19-8-0 this season while St. Norbert finished 9-14-4.
The Foresters will take on College of St. Scholastica next Friday or Saturday at Adrian College in the semifinals of the Slaats Cup Playoffs. Adrian will face the winner the next day for the Slaats Cup and the right to represent the league in the NCAA Division III Tournament.