Mari Gunderson (Jr., Shoreview, Minn.) scored the fourth hat trick of her career to help lift the Gustavus women’s hockey team over Hamline 10-1 in the MIAC opener on Friday night in St. Paul. It took the Golden Gustie offense 11 minutes to score its first goal and never stopped applying the pressure as the Pipers generated just five shots in the entire contest.
Linda Evans (Fy., Faribanks, Alaska)got the offense started at the 11:00 mark by scoring the first goal of her collegiate career. Gustavus would tally two more goals in the first period before Hamline responded with its lone goal of the game from Kate Raasch with 1:37 remaining in the period.
The Gusties quickly regained momentum when Lynn Hillen (So., Minnetonka, Minn.) scored an unassisted goal 58 seconds into the second period. Gustavus would go on to score three goals in the period to put the game out of Hamline’s reach as the Gusties outshoot the Pipers 9-0.
Gunderson scored a short-handed goal at the end of the second period and a power-play goal at the beginning of the third period to earn the hat trick. Molly Doyle (Sr., Richfield, Minn.) was the only other Gustie to score multiple goals as thirteen Gustavus players tallied points before the contest was over.
Gustavus goaltender Breanna Scavo (So., Blaine, Minn.) recorded four saves and allowed one goal in the victory to bring her record to 3-1-0 this season and 1-0-0 in MIAC play. Piper goaltender Crystal Testolin posted 25 saves to go along with giving up ten goals in the loss dropping Hamline’s record to 3-2-0 and 0-1-0 in league competition.
Gustavus will finish the weekend series against Hamline on Saturday at 2:00 pm in St. Peter.