Junior forward Amy Budde had a goal and two assists as the Lake Forest College women's hockey team locked up a spot in the Northern Collegiate Hockey Association Slaats Cup Playoffs with a 7-1 victory over Northland College at home Friday night.
Budde's goal was the third in a three-minute span in the opening period for the Foresters, who now rank second in the nation with 5.45 scored per contest. Senior forward Olivia Spellmire started the run with the game's first goal at 4:07. The unassisted score tied her with sophomore forward Lexi Morgan for the team lead with 16 tallies on the year. Senior defenseman Kayla Griffith doubled the home team's lead with a 5-on-3 power play goal at 6:40 with senior forward Amanda Brunges assisting. It was Griffith's first game-winning goal and sixth score overall this season. Budde struck with another power play goal, her 15th of the year, just 23 seconds later. Sophomore forward Sydney Simone and defenseman Amanda Boisjolie were credited with assists on the play.
The span between goals was 23 seconds again but this time it was Northland lighting the lamp at 7:26. The rest of the period was scoreless and, after out-shooting the LumberJills 17-2 in the game's first 20 minutes, Lake Forest went into the locker room at the first intermission leading 3-1.
After converting on their first two power play opportunities, the Foresters made it 3-for-3 at the 18:44 mark of the second period. Freshman forward/defenseman Jordan Trapp accounted for the goal, her fourth of the season, with Budde and Simone assisting. Lake Forest's power play now ranks sixth in the country at 27.5 percent.
The home team had an 18-2 advantage in shots on goal in the second stanza and had a 4-1 edge on the scoreboard with a period to play.
The Foresters' next two scores were separated by just 21 seconds. Morgan netted the first at the 4:19 mark, regaining sole possession of the team lead in goals with 17. Brunges and freshman forward Annie Dalton each earned an assist on the play. Budde and Simone then assisted on sophomore forward/defenseman Kate Fanning's first score of the season at 4:40. The final goal of the night was scored by freshman forward Kristina Bellomo and assisted by Spellmire and freshman forward Megan Lyke with 1:44 on the clock. It was the fifth tally of the year for Bellomo.
Lake Forest out-shot its guests 13-4 in the final period and 48-8 in the contest.
Forester sophomore goaltender Jacque Rogers made seven saves in the victory and improved to 7-4-0 with a 1.54 goals against average this season.
Lake Forest is now 12-8-0 overall and 10-3-0 in NCHA play while Northland fell to 7-12-1 overall and 5-7-1 in the league. The same two teams will face off again in Alumni Memorial Fieldhouse Saturday afternoon at 2:00.
