The Gustavus women’s hockey team lost a heartbreaker to top-rated Middlebury 4-3 in overtime in River Falls, Wisconsin on Friday night. The Panthers Emily McNamara scored :26 into the overtime to hand the Gusties their first loss of the season.
The game was tied 1-1 after the first period. Middlebury scored first on a goal by Tory MacNeil at the 2:14 mark. The Gusties tied the score when Jaclyn Dufault scored her first goal of the season at the 7:51 mark. Assists were credited to Kiersten Supina and Ingrid Neve.
Middlebury took a 2-1 lead at 15:55 of the second period on a goal by Ellen Sargent. It was the only goal of the second period.
The Panthers extended their lead to 3-1 when Emily Quizon scored just :18 into the third period. The Gusties closed the lead to 3-2 on a goal by Molly Doyle at 5:16 of the period. An assist was given to Danny Blacker. Gustavus tied the game at 3-3 on a goal by Andrea Peterson at the 12:41 mark. Assists were credited to Kelly Crandall and Margaret Dorer.
The game ended when Emily McNamara managed to poke the puck past Gustavus goaltender Kara Meyer out of a scrum in the front of the net just :26 into the overtime.
The Gusties outshot Middlebury in every period and finished the game with a 28-23 advantage in shots. Kate Kogut got the win in the nets for Middlebury. She recorded 25 saves. Kara Meyer suffered the loss for Gustavus. Meyer turned away 19 shots.
Middlebury was 0-4 on the power play. Gustavus was 0-3 with the one-player advantage.
Middlebury improves to 9-0-0 on the season, while Gustavus falls to 7-1-1.
Gustavus will play #10 Williams at 12:00 pm on Saturday in River Falls. You can listen to the game through the Gustavus audio broadcast page.