The Forester women's hockey team closed out the regular season with a 5-4 victory at home over Concordia University Wisconsin Saturday afternoon (February 20). Lake Forest, the eighth-ranked team in the nation, raised its overall record on the season to 17-2-4 and Northern Collegiate Hockey Association mark to 11-1-4. The Falcons fell to 9-13-3 overall and 5-9-2 in the NCHA.

The two teams played a scoreless first period for the second day in a row.

The first annual Ryann "Ry" McCarthy Award was presented between the first and second periods. Senior Jamie Sauer (Eagle River, Wis./Northland Pines H.S.), the two-year team captain and 2009 Honorable Mention All-NCHA selection was this year's winner and Ry's parents Terry and Sue McCarthy and sister Samantha were there to present the award.

Concordia Wisconsin scored the game's first goal at the 5:34 mark of the second period. The Foresters tied the score just 10 seconds into a power play at 12:29. It was junior Lynn Switaj's (Avon Lake, Ohio/Ohio Flames) 11th goal of the season and she was assisted by classmate Melissa Kravich (Wilmette, Ill./Gustavus Adolphus College) and sophomore Kim Herring (Dover, N.H./Groton School). The Falcons regained the lead at 13:03 but Herring tied the score again just 30 seconds later. Sauer earned an assist on the play.

Concordia pulled ahead again just 71 seconds into the third period. Lake Forest pulled even for the third and final time in the game at 6:56 on a goal by senior Courtney Bean (Peoria, Ill./Team Illinois). Herring and junior Sam Herron (Clinton Township, Mich./Victory Honda) assisted on the score. Bean lit the lamp again at 11:34, this time on the power play, to give the Foresters the lead for good. Her second score of the game and ninth this season was assisted by Sauer and Herring. Herring then increased her single-season school record goal total to 25 on another power play score at 15:12. Bean and Kravich each earned an assist. A Concordia Wisconsin goal at 18:32 made Herring's score the official game-winner, her NCAA Division III-leading eighth of the season. It was also her program-record-tying fifth point of the game and she is the fifth player in team history to accomplish the feat.

Juniors Brittany Lemke (St. Charles, Ill./St. Mary's University) and Alyssa Wintermute (Belmont, Ontario/St. Thomas Panthers) split the game in goal with wintermute increasing her program record for career victories to 29.

The Foresters out-shot the Falcons 47-18 in the contest.

Sauer, Bean, and fellow senior Carolyn Thiess (Naperville, Ill./Canterbury School) were honored before starting in the final regular season home game of their careers. The Foresters have won more games during their time on the team than in any other four-year period.

Lake Forest will host an NCHA quarterfinal series against the league's #8 seed Finlandia University next weekend (February 26-28). Game times or whether they will be played Friday- Saturday or Saturday-Sunday have yet to be determined.