Courtney Boucher scored the game-winner in the 2-1 win Wednesday night.
River Falls, Wis. – For the first time in the 2012-13 season, the Gustavus women’s hockey team found itself behind on the scoreboard after the first period against UW-River Falls Wednesday night. The Gusties responded with goals in the second and third periods to walk away with a 2-1 victory. With the win, Gustavus improves to 9-0-0 on the year. It is the first time in school history that the Gustie women have begun the year with nine straight victories.
Alyssa Jackson began the scoring in the last minute of the first period when she scored on a Chloe Kinsel assist to put the Falcons on top 1-0. After nearly 500 minutes of play without trailing this season, the Gusties found themselves with a deficit on the scoreboard for the first time this year. The score remained 1-0 headed to the locker room for the first intermission.
Gustavus found the answer in the second period when Lindsey Hjelm (North Oaks, Minn.) buried the puck on a power play with 9:58 to play in the frame. Hjelm’s second goal of the season tied the score at 1-1 headed to the second intermission.
Just over four minutes into the third and final period, the Gusties got what would prove to be the game-winner. Courtney Boucher (So., Hastings, Minn.) scored her second goal of the season with 15:57 to play to give Gustavus its first lead of the night. Boucher’s goal proved to be enough as the Gusties were able to fend off UW-River Falls for the remainder of the game and go on to the narrow one-goal victory.
Aside from the scoreboard, the two squads battled stride-for-stride with one another. The Gusties were outshot for the first time this season, throwing 27 shots on net compared to UW-River Falls’ 28, while each team took an identical five penalties for 10 minutes. First-year goalie Lindsey Hibbard (Fy., Princeton, Minn.) recorded her fifth win of the season after giving up one goal and notching 27 saves.
The two squads will be back at it on Friday night when they travel to St. Peter for a 7:00 p.m. faceoff at Don Roberts Ice Rink.