The Lake Forest College women's hockey team posted a 6-4 victory at Aurora University on Sunday to complete a weekend sweep of the Spartans.
Forester junior forward Samantha Shoebottom turned in her second three-point performance of the weekend and started the scoring at the 3:34 mark of the opening period. The first of her two goals on the day was assisted by sophomore forward Lexi Nguyen.
After a power play goal by the home team at 12:46 tied the game, Lake Forest regained the lead on senior forward Abigail Tucci's first goal of the year. Fellow senior forward Emelia Edmondson set up the score.
Aurora, however, tied the game again with just 2.7 seconds on the clock.
The Foresters took the lead again on a power play goal by junior forward Stokli Ashcraft at the 5:21 mark of the second. Her third score of the season was assisted by Shoebottom and freshman defenseman Sophia Chapman. The Spartans responded at 8:11, tying the game for the third time.
Lake Forest finally took the lead for good with 4:22 remaining in the second. It was the first goal of the year for Edmondson with assists credited to Ashcraft and Tucci.
Leading 4-3 after two periods, the Foresters added to their advantage just 36 seconds into the third on Shoebottom's second tally of the game and season. Chapman earned her second assist. Nguyen's first career goal at 11:33 made the score 6-3 and was set up by Ashcraft and sophomore forward Caitlyn Dahut.
Aurora scored what proved to be the final goal of the contest less than two minutes later but got no closer, despite pulling the goalie with 47 seconds remaining.
Junior goaltender Hannah Turnage made 33 saves in the first two periods combined and 40 in the contest. She has reached that total in four of six starts this season.
Lake Forest improved to 2-4-0 overall and 2-0-0 in Northern Collegiate Hockey Association play while the Spartans fell to 6-2-0 overall and 2-2-0 in the league.
The Foresters will host a pair of non-conference games against the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire next weekend. The teams will face off Friday night at 7:00 and the following afternoon at 4:00.
