The Forester women's soccer team defeated visiting St. Norbert College 2-0 on Saturday in the final of the 2012 Midwest Conference Tournament. Lake Forest, which also won the regular season conference championship with a 8-1-1 league record, earns the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament, which will begin next weekend.
The shutout was the third in a row and eighth this season for Forester senior goalkeeper Bri Schleibinger, who made seven saves in the contest. She lowered her goals against average on the year to 1.02 and raised her save percentage to .829.
Lake Forest took the lead on the third goal of the season by junior Emily Keast, who scored off a corner kick by freshman Sam Hillis at the 15:08 mark.
The home team doubled its lead at 56:03 on a penalty kick by junior Becky Esrock after freshman Holly Lesperance was fouled in the penalty box.
The Foresters were outshot 13-7 in the contest but their defense, led by Schleibinger and Esrock, kept the Green Knights off the scoreboard to preserve the victory.
Lake Forest is now 14-5-1 this season while St. Norbert fell to 13-4-3.
The NCAA Division III Women's Soccer Tournament Selection Show will air on NCAA.com Monday at 12:30 p.m. (link) and first round information will be posted on the Forester Athletics Website, goforesters.com, soon thereafter.
