Yellowjackets 3, Lake Forest 2
Although it outshot the Foresters 26-6 through the first 40 minutes of play, the University of Wisconsin-Superior women's hockey team was forced to endure a difficult third period en route to a 3-2 victory over the Forest Lake Foresters on Friday (November 4).
With the win, the Yellowjackets improve to 2-1-1 overall while the Foresters endured their first loss of the 2011-12 campaign, falling to 1-1-1.
"Our defense was very sluggish in the third period," said head coach Dan Laughlin. "We did a great job of eliminating their scoring chances early on but we almost let it get away from us at the end."
The Foresters tallied two goals on just 10 shots in the final frame after being held to just six through the first two periods.
In a first period which was thoroughly dominated by the Yellowjackets, reigning NCHA player of the week Dani Schultz (Morris, Minn./Morris Area) (Morris, Minn.) netted her team-leading fifth goal of the season as she tapped a rebound past Lake Forest netminder Stacey Dierking to give the 'Jackets a 1-0 advantage. The goal from Schultz came on the power play as UW-Superior made good on one of their two chances with the advantage in the frame.
The black and gold didn't let its feet off the gas in the second period with Schultz playing a part in the second lamp lighting of the evening as well. Kerry Mayhew (Littleton,Colo./Heritage) (Littleton, Colo.) pumped in her second goal of the season off of a Forester turnover, sending her shot over the glove hand of Dierking. She was assisted by Schultz and Jenn Paul (Paynesville, Minn./Paynnesville) (Paynesville, Minn.) who displayed textbook passing after the Lake Forest turnover.
Seemingly content with a 2-0 edge, the Yellowjackets surrendered the first goal of the game at the 8:06 mark of the deciding frame when Mira Trebilcock rifled a shot past Shanley Peters (Gnadenthal, Manitoba/Garden Valley Collegiate) (Gnadenthal, Manitoba) to cut the UWS lead in half. The even strength marker was the first of the season for Trebilcock.
Once again, the power play would be the remedy the Yellowjackets sought as Kelsey Firkus (Chilliwack, British Columbia/Chilliwack Senior Secondary) (Chilliwack, British Columbia) scored the game-winning goal off a pass from Bailey Lane (Armada, Mich./Armada) (Armada, Michigan) on the third power play opportunity of the game for UW-Superior.
With the game apparently in hand, the 'Jackets fell victim to unorganized passing as a turnover deep in their zone allowed Kim Herring to walk in and send the second Forester goal of the game past Peters after some nifty stick handling.
The defense for UWS stood tall for the final 1:52 of the game after the Foresters elected to send Dierking to the bench for an extra attacker during the final 44 seconds of the game.
"We won this game with hard work and good decision making," stated Laughlin. "We need to come out strong tomorrow night and it all starts with hard work."
Peters stopped 16-of-18 shots for UWS while her counterpart Dierking pushed away 39 of the 42 shots for the Foresters.
The Yellowjackets and Foresters will conclude their two game series tomorrow (Saturday, November 5) at Wessman Arena. The puck drop is scheduled for 2:00 p.m.
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