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.
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.