ANGOLA, Ind. -- The Trine University women's hockey team netted a third period goal to force overtime, but gave up the game winner in the extra period to fall 3-2 to visiting Lake Forest College.
The Foresters struck first in the contest when in just the second minute of play they took the 1-0 lead.
The Thunder, however, were quick to respond. In the fifth minute of play the team won a neutral zone face off, with senior Brandi Wilson (Fetnton, Mich.) moving the puck into the offensive end. To get around a defender, she passed the puck to teammate Payton Hans (Johnson Creek, Wis.) who quickly touched it back. Wilson would then fire a shot on goal which the opposition's goalie turned aside. The rebound went behind the goal line but freshman Kailey Mleko (Hoffman Estates, Ill.) was able to fire a shot and ricochet the puck off the back of the goalie and into the net.
Lake Forest took back the lead in the 14th minute of the first period and would then rely on strong defensive play to hold that score for the rest of the first, all of the second and the first half of the third period.
In the 14th minute of the third period, the Thunder received their third power play opportunity of the game. They would win the opening faceoff in the offensive zone, before pressing the puck toward the net. Turned away by the defense Wilson would pass the puck up the boards to Hans who quickly forwarded it to the center of the point where senior Kirsten Vandenheuvel (Denfield, Ontario) collected it. She would go on to fire a shot into the fray in front of the net, the puck would ping-pong off of defenders and slip past the goalie knotting the game at two.
Neither team was able to crack the defense through the rest of regulation and the game would head to a sudden death 3-on-3 overtime period. There both teams continued to fail to find the back of the net, until the Foresters got a shot on net to deflect wide and were able to put the rebound into the back of the net ending the game at 3-2.
Despite recording the loss, senior Emily Nettesheim (Hartland, Wis.) played a solid contest in net. She finished the game with 39 saves, including 14 in the third period and four in overtime.
The Thunder fall to 5-14-1 overall and 2-8-1 in Northern Collegiate Hockey Association (NCHA) play following the loss. They do salvage a point toward the NCHA standings by taking the contest to overtime. They will face off with Lake Forest again tomorrow, Saturday, Feb. 12 at 2 p.m.