Junior goaltender Louis-Philippe De Courcy made a career-high 43 saves to help lead the Lake Forest College men's hockey team to a 2-1 overtime victory Saturday night at Concordia Wisconsin and to a win in the teams' Northern Collegiate Hockey Association Harris Cup quarterfinal series.
De Courcy stopped all nine shots on goal he faced in a scoreless opening period before turning away 22 of 23 in the second. He added 10 more saves in the third period and two in overtime. He improved to 21-7-1 on the season and now ranks ninth in the nation with a .933 save percentage and 16th in goals against average at 1.97.
The game's two goals in regulation were scored exactly a minute apart in the second period. The home team grabbed the lead at the 8:43 mark but took a penalty 35 seconds later. The Foresters converted the power play opportunity when freshman forward Aaron O'Neill netted his ninth score of the season. He was assisted by junior forward Cody Guidorzi and sophomore defenseman Connor Duncan.
Lake Forest was 1-for-3 on the power play on the night while killing all four of the Falcons' man-advantage opportunities, including one that began with 34 seconds remaining in regulation.
Since the Foresters won 5-3 the night before, Concordia Wisconsin needed a victory to extend the series to a decisive 20-minute minigame. As time wound down in overtime, the Falcons pulled their goaltender for an extra attacker. Lake Forest senior forward Charlie Izaguirre was able to clear the puck in the final seconds and it found the open net at the other end of the ice just before time expired. It was the 11th goal of the season for Izaguirre and gave the visitors a win instead of a tie.
Lake Forest improved to 15-10-2 on the season while Concordia Wisconsin fell to 16-9-2.
The Foresters will travel to Adrian College next Saturday for a NCHA Harris Cup semifinal contest at 2:00 p.m. (ET).
