The Gustavus women’s hockey team defeated #3 UW-Stevens Point 6-4 in River Falls, Wisconsin on Sunday afternoon. The Gusties scored three goals in a five minute span late in the first period to take a 3-1 lead over the Pointers and then held on for the 6-4 victory. Ingrid Neve led Gustavus with two goals and one assist. The Gusties improve to 9-1-1 on the season, while the Pointers fall to 11-2-0.
Molly Doyle keyed an important Gustavus scoring outburst midway through the first period. Doyle scored the Gusties first goal at the 9:47 mark to tie the score at 1-1. Ingrid Neve gave Gustavus a 2-1 lead on a shorthanded goal just two minutes later (11:43) and then Laura Vanelli extended the Gustie lead to 3-1 with a goal at the 14:59 mark. Gustavus led 3-1 at the end of the first period.
UW-Stevens Point pulled to within one goal at 3-2 when Kim Lunneborg scored at 5:24 of the second period. The Gusties countered with power play goals by Andrea Peterson at 13:34 and Kelly Crandall at 15:05 to push the lead to 5-2 at the end of the second period. Crandall”s goal would turn out to be the gamewinner.
Katie Lankey scored two third period goals to pull UW-Stevens Point to within one at 5-4, however Ingrid Neve scored an empty net goal at 19:34 (her second goal of the game) to secure the win for the Gusties.
Kara Meyer was the winning goaltender for Gustavus. She recorded 19 saves.
Gustavus compiled an impressive 2-1 record at River Falls over the weekend. The Gusties lost a 4-3 overtime heartbreaker to #1 Middlebury on Friday, but then rallied to defeat #10 Williams 6-1 on Saturday and #3 UW-Stevens Point 6-4 on Sunday. Gustavus is currently ranked #7 in the USCHO.com Division III poll.