The Lake Forest College women's hockey team was defeated 5-0 at the University of Wisconsin-River Falls on Sunday as the race for the 2012-13 Northern Collegiate Hockey Association championship came down to the final day of the regular season. The Falcons, ranked fifth in the nation, claimed the outright title and the Foresters finished third in the standings.
Lake Forest edged out River Falls 2-1 on Saturday and would have tied the Falcons for first place with a series sweep.
The home team started the scoring on Sunday with a shorthanded goal at the 4:22 mark of the opening period. The Falcons added a goal at 9:37 and led 2-0 after the opening period.
River Falls tacked on an insurance goal at the 3:36 mark of the second period and another at 9:07 in the third. The Falcons closed out the scoring with a power play goal with 5:48 remaining in the contest.
Forester junior goaltender Stacey Dierking made 39 saves in the game and 80 on the weekend.
Lake Forest finished the regular season with an overall record of 15-5-4 and a league mark of 12-4-4. River Falls raised its overall record to 18-5-2 and league mark to 15-3-2.
The Foresters will host College of St. Scholastica in the NCHA O'Brien quarterfinals next weekend. The teams will face off at 7:00 Friday night and will conclude the two-game series Saturday afternoon at 2:00.
