Yellowjackets fail to escape the forest alive

Chelsey Wierschem

Box Score

Lake Forest College 4, Yellowjackets 3
Box Score

The women in black and yellow made a strong push toward their goal towards a weekend sweep over Lake Forest College on a late extra attacker goal by Chelsey Wierschem (Willmar, Minn./Willmar). That's all the Yellowjackets came up with as they failed to cash in their chips on a sweep, losing 4-3 to the Foresters.

Like game one, the Foresters set the tone early in the contest when Maeve Connelly dished a solid pass to Laura Reckdenwald at the right circle. Reckedenwald took a wrist shot that thread the needle between Yellowjacket goaltender Megan Leikkari (Thunder Bay, Ontario/Westgate CV&I) and the post to give the Foresters a 1-0 lead at 16:04 of the first period. Karen Larson (Blumenort, Manitoba/Steinbach Regional Secondary) helped the Yellowjackets respond with a goal in front of the net that tied the game at a goal a piece at 10:29 of the second period.

The Foresters went on a stretch of three unanswered goals that ultimately sealed the Yellowjackets' fate. Michelle Greeneway led the charge with a power play goal at 18:58 of the second period to give the Foresters a 2-1 lead. Marissa Weber tacked on another goal for the Foresters at 10:06 of the third period on a three-on-two play to push their lead to 3-1. The Foresters continued their dominate play through Melissa Paluch's goal at 12:36 of the third period that gave them a 4-1 lead, but the Yellowjackets started to creep up from behind.

The rally was started on a Kelsey Firkus (Chilliwack, British Columbia/Chilliwack Senior Secondary) goal at 13:17 of the third period on a three-on-two play with Lynne Larson (Blumenort, Manitoba/) and Karen Larson (Blumenort, Manitoba/Steinbach Regional Secondary) to narrow the Forester lead to 4-2. The momentum built when Yellowjacket head coach Dan Laughlin pulled Leikkari with 1:35 to play. It eventually turned out in favor of the Yellowjackets when Wierschem notched an extra attacker goal with the help of Kerry Mayhew (Littleton,Colo./Heritage) to narrow the score to 4-3. However, that was all the Yellowjackets came up with.

The Yellowjackets end the 2011 portion of their schedule with a (8-4, 5-3 NCHA) record. They will return to action on Friday (Jan. 11^th) when they travel to Adrian, Mich. to take on the Bulldogs from Adrian College. Game time is at 7:00 p.m. (EST.)

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