ASHWAUBENON, Wis. — Top-ranked St. Norbert College scored late in the second period to take the lead and went on to a 3-1 victory over Lawrence University in Saturday’s finale of a Northern Collegiate Hockey Association quarterfinal playoff series.
St. Norbert (23-3-1) won the series 2-0 after posting a victory on Friday night as well. Lawrence finishes the season with a 6-19-2 mark.
The game was tied 1-1 late in the second period when there was a scramble near the Lawrence net. During the play, St. Norbert’s Mason Baptista fell on the leg of Lawrence goaltender Mattias Soderqvist. While Soderqvist was down on the ice, Marian Fiala scored on the open net with 2:38 left in the second.
St. Norbert pushed the lead to 3-1 when Sam Higgins scored a power-play goal at 7:17 of the third. Lawrence was forced to kill off a five-minute penalty later in the third period and pulled Soderqvist for the final 2:14 but couldn’t pull any closer.
The Green Knights took a 1-0 lead Michael Hill’s unassisted power-play goal with just two seconds left in the opening period. Paul Zuke tied it for Lawrence when he scored a power-play goal on a two-man advantage at the 6:32 mark of the second.
David Jacobson made 14 saves to pick up the win for St. Norbert. Soderqvist stopped 34 shots for the Vikings.