Sophomore defenseman Connor Duncan scored the Lake Forest College men's hockey team's first short-handed goal of the season to give the home team the early lead in a 6-1 triumph over visiting Lawrence University on Saturday.
Duncan's second score overall this season came at the 11:43 mark and was the only tally of the opening period. He was assisted by senior forward Davis DeKorte and sophomore defenseman Zach Feldman. The Foresters out-shot their guests 16-7 in the game's first 20 minutes but led by just one when the buzzer sounded.
The official game-winning goal was scored by junior forward Vito Aluia at 6:32 in the second. The unassisted score was the first of the year for Aluia.
Just 47 seconds passed before the home team added to its lead. Junior forward Cody Guidorzi lit the lamp for the second time this season with freshman forward Aaron O'Neill and junior forward Bron Loiselle assisting. The Foresters added another insurance goal at the 9:26 mark when Drew Cleerman, another junior forward, scored his second goal of the year. Senior forward Charlie Izaguirre and sophomore defenseman Reed Scahill set up the score.
The Vikings finally got on the scoreboard at the mid-way point of the second period but Lake Forest regained its four-goal advantage just a minute later on senior forward Billy Kent's first goal of 2017-18. Feldman recorded his second assist of the night.
After putting 13 shots on goal to Lawrence's six in the second period, both teams were on target just six times in the final 20 minutes. The only goal of the third period came from Izaguirre with 2:11 on the clock. His first score of the season was assisted by Scahill.
Lake Forest junior goaltender Louis-Philippe De Courcy made 18 saves on the night and surrendered just one goal for the second time in as many days. He is now 3-1-0 and ranked fourth in the nation with a .954 save percentage and sixth with a 1.23 goals against average this year.
The Foresters improved to 4-2-0 overall and 3-1-0 in Northern Collegiate Hockey Association play while Lawrence fell to 2-2-0, both overall and in league play.
Lake Forest will take on Aurora University in non-conference action next Saturday at 5:00 p.m. The game will be played at Johnny's IceHouse West in Chicago.
