The Lake Forest College women's hockey team defeated visiting Concordia University Wisconsin 6-3 Saturday night in game two of their Northern Collegiate Hockey Association Slaats Cup quarterfinal series. The Foresters also won the series 1-0-1 and will travel to Adrian College for the semifinals.
The home team had a 12-8 advantage in shots on goal in the opening period but trailed 1-0 after 20 minutes of play.
The game and series turned when the Foresters erupted for four goals in the second period, including three by sophomore forward Lauren Wensel. She converted a power play opportunity at the 4:23 mark and put Lake Forest on top with her first career short-handed goal at 7:05.
After Concordia Wisconsin pulled even at the 10:49 mark, the Foresters regained the lead with 4:39 remaining on freshman forward Emma Sweeney's sixth of the season. Wensel then completed the hat trick and raised her season goal total to nine with 1:16 on the clock. It also turned out to be her third game-winning goal of 2022-23.
Lake Forest outshot the Falcons 18-10 in the second period and 19-15 in the third.
The home team broke the game open in the final period with back-to-back power play scores just 63 seconds apart. Senior forward Marissa Gebauer netted her 10th goal of the season at the 6:20 mark and junior forward Danielle Selby added her seventh at 7:23.
The Falcons scored a power play goal of their own with 3:26 remaining but were unable to get any closer.
Forester senior goaltender Hannah Turnage made 30 saves on the night, including 14 in the final period. She now owns the program's single-season record with 751 saves on the year.
Senior forward Stokli Ashcraft and freshman defenseman Willow Poppleton accounted for two of the home team's 11 assists.
Lake Forest improved to 15-8-4 on the season while Concordia Wisconsin finished the year at 14-11-2.
The Foresters will travel to Adrian College next weekend and take on the Bulldogs in Friday's 3:00 p.m. final. The winner will advance to the final, which will be played Saturday afternoon at 2:00.
