Green Knights Hold On to Top No. 7 Lake Forest

From Sports Information Director, February 8, 2013 | Women's Hockey
by Dan Lukes, dan.lukes@snc.edu, (920) 403-4077

LAKE FOREST, Ill. - St. Norbert College built a big lead and then held on to claim a big Northern Collegiate Hockey Association win over nationally ranked Lake Forest College by a 5-4 score at Alumni Memorial Fieldhouse.

The Green Knights (11-9-2, 9-7-1 NCHA) won for the sixth time in their last seven games. Lake Forest (14-3-4, 11-2-4), ranked No. 7 in the USCHO.com Division III Poll, entered the game in a first-place tie with UW-River Falls and had a 12-game winning streak snapped in the loss.

St. Norbert took a 1-0 lead in the first period when Lauren Roethlisberger scored her second goal of the season with a marker at the 8:51 mark.

The Green Knights added to their lead when Karissa Anderson scored her fifth goal of the season with a goal at 5:53 of the second period. Lake Forest answered at 9:39 with a goal by Melissa Paluch, but she went to the penalty box 20 seconds later on a tripping call. St. Norbert countered with a power-play goal by Ali Parker at 10:12. Parker wasted little time increasing St. Norbert's lead with a goal 11 seconds later for a 4-1 advantage.

Anderson opened scoring in the third period with a goal at 5:15 for a 5-1 edge. St. Norbert had to hold off a last-ditch rally by the Foresters, who scored the game's last three goals. Michelle Greeneway scored at 6:34 for Lake Forest, and Marissa Weber found the back of the net with 3:37 remaining to trim the lead to 5-3. Sarah Gilbride scored on an extra-attacker power-play goal with 16 seconds left, but the Foresters couldn't get the equalizer to force overtime.

Parker added an assist for a three-point game, while Stephanie Slinde had two assists.

St. Norbert outshot Lake Forest 31-29. Kaley Gibson made 25 saves to improve to 10-8-2 on the season. Lake Forest got 26 saves from Stacey Dierking, who suffered her first loss of the season in falling to 11-1.

St. Norbert was 2-for-9 on the power play, while Lake Forest was 1-for-7.