The Gustavus women’s hockey team rallied from a 2-0 deficit to tie the game at 2-2, but St. Olaf scored late in the third period to claim a 3-2 win at Don Roberts Ice Rink in St. Peter. The Gusties are now 2-3-1 overall and 2-2-1 in the MIAC.
The Oles got off to a quick start jumping out to a 2-0 lead in the first period on goals by Taylor Orr and Nicole Stumpf.
The Gusties responded in the second period scoring to power play goals to tie the score at 2-2. Melissa Mackley scored the first goal at 6:21 with assists from Sara Yungner and Kirstin Peterson. Lindsey Hjelm registered the second goal at 17:48 with assists from Peterson and Alyssa Saunders.
Gustavus began to control play in the third period and peppered St. Olaf netminder Erin McNamara with 10 consecutive shots including two that hit the pipe, but McNamara was up to the challenge and kept the Oles in the game. with just under five minutes remaining in the game the Gusties coughed up the puck and center ice and the Oles Katie Iraci skated in alone on Danielle Justice. Iraci blasted a shot over Justice’s stick hand into the upper right hand corner of the net giving the Oles the 3-2 lead at the 4:44 mark.
Gustavus would get one last chance when a penalty was whistled on St. Olaf with 2:15 remaining in the contest. The Gusties would get a flurry of good shots on McNamara, but she refused to allow the puck in the net and the Oles held on for the 3-2 win.
Danielle Justice suffered the loss in the nets for Gustavus. She registered 13 saves and allowed three goals. McNamara picked up the win for the Oles. She turned away 33 shots and allowed two goals.
The victory was the first for St. Olaf over the Gusties in the history of the St. Olaf women’s hockey program which dates back to ten years to the 2000-01 season. The Gusties all-time record against the Oles is 21-1-2.