Kelsey Kennedy takes the puck across center ice with Lindsey Hjelm backing her up.
The Gustavus women’s hockey team completed the regular season series sweep over Bethel with a 6-3 victory Saturday afternoon on Don Roberts Ice Rink in St. Peter, Minn. The Gusties were led once again by their senior captain Mollie Carroll who tallied her second-consecutive two-goal performance against the Royals.
It didn’t take long for the Gusties to light up the scoreboard as Leah Johnson put the puck in the back of the net 1:57 into the first period for her first goal of the season. The Gusties took a 1-0 lead into the second but the Royals answered with the equalizer off the stick of Charise Kendrick in the third minute. Not to be outdone, the Three Crowns used back-to-back goals by Carroll and Marissa Brandt with only 32 seconds separating the scores in the sixth minute to jump ahead 3-1. Rachel Geng cut the deficit to one at the 15:12 mark of the second and the score was 3-2 after two frames.
Allie Schwab opened the third period scoring with a wrap-around goal for the Gusties at the 5:28 mark and it was all Gustavus from there on. Carolyn Draayer and Carroll put together the Gusties’ second back-to-back goals on the day in the ninth minute. Draayer scored her team-leading sixth goal of the season at the 8:14 mark and 15 seconds later, Carroll slammed home her second goal of the game to put the Black and Gold up 6-2. Cristina Masten gave the Royals their third goal of the game with six minutes remaining but it was too little, too late as Gustavus skated away with the 6-3 decision and the sweep.
Marah Sobczak recorded her second win of the season in goal after making 13 saves on 16 shots. The Gusties outshot the Royals 40-to-16 throughout the contest and Bethel goaltender Sophie Borgerding fended off 34 of the 40 shots.
Allie Schwab scored her second goal of the season in the third period.
Gustavus gains two points with the win and moves to 2-0-0 in the MIAC and 4-0-0 overall, while the Royals fall to 1-2-2 overall and 0-2-0 in conference action. This is the second-consecutive season the Gustie women have started the season 4-0-0, but it’s the first time in 12 years that they’ve scored five or more goals in their first four matches.
The Gusties resume MIAC play next weekend with a weekend doubleheader against St. Thomas. Friday’s game will be played in St. Peter at 7:00 p.m. and Saturday’s contest is at 2:00 p.m. in St. Paul.