Just two days after being named Northern Collegiate Hockey Association Player of the Year, Lake Forest senior forward Olivia Spellmire scored both her team's goals in Friday night's 2-1 overtime victory over College of St. Scholastica in the semifinals of the NCHA Slaats Cup Playoffs.
Spellmire's first score gave Lake Forest, the #2 seed in the tournament, a 1-0 lead at the 6:40 mark of the opening period. She stole the puck from the Saints at the far side of the left circle in the offensive zone, skated in toward the net, and beat the St. Scholastica goaltender for the score.
The Foresters had a 20-4 advantage in shots on goal in the game's first 20 minutes but were unable to add to their lead.
St. Scholastica, the #3 seed in the tournament, had a slight 12-11 edge in shots on goal in the second period and pulled even on a power play goal at 8:27.
Lake Forest was able to kill its other second period penalty and all three power play opportunities in the scoreless final period were unsuccessful, including the Foresters' only man-advantage chance of the night. The Saints put 13 shots on goal and their goalie stopped all six attempts from the Foresters.
Lake Forest had the better of the play with four shots on goal to St. Scholastica's one in the overtime period, which lasted a little more than eight minutes. Forester sophomore defenseman Julia Unterseher stopped a 3-on-2 opportunity for the Saints just inside the blue line and poked the puck out of the zone to Spellmire near mid-ice, creating a 2-on-1 going the other way. The defender played the pass, leaving Spellmire a shot at a game-winner and she blasted the puck into the right side of the net. It was the 23rd goal of the season for Spellmire, who now leads the NCHA in that category. It was also her 49th point of the year, which ranks third in the nation.
Forester sophomore goaltender Jacque Rogers finished the night with 29 saves and matched a team record with her 14th victory of the year against just four losses. She also climbed to sixth in the country with a 1.16 goals against average and to 13th with a save percentage of .941.
Lake Forest improved to 20-8-0 on the season and the team's 11-game winning streak is just one shy of the longest run in program history. St. Scholastica finished the year 16-7-5.
The Foresters advance to Saturday night's Slaats Cup final against Adrian College, the fifth-ranked team in the nation and host of this weekend's games.
