St. Paul, Minn. – The Gustavus Adolphus women’s hockey team defeated St. Catherine 3-1 on Saturday afternoon at Drake Arena to complete the weekend sweep of the Wildcats. After jumping out to an early lead in the first period, St. Catherine scored in the third frame to tie the game at 1-1, but the Gusties answered with two goals of their own to seal the victory. With the win, Gustavus moves to 14-0-0 (8-0-0 MIAC) on the season while the Wildcats drop to 8-7-0 (5-3-0 MIAC).
The Gusties jumped out to an early one-goal lead in the first period. Melissa Doyle (Jr., White Bear Lake, Minn.) scored at the 7:31 mark of the opening frame with helpers from Meagan Wanecke (Sr., Delafield, Wis.) and Jenna Christensen (Sr., Albert Lea, Minn.). Doyle’s fourth goal of the season put the Gusties on top by the score of 1-0, where it would stay for the remainder of the period heading into the first intermission.
The second period passed by without either team scoring and the two squads moved on to the third and final period with the Gusties in front on the scoreboard 1-0. St. Catherine got its first goal of the contest 2:30 into the third from Annie Buttermore, but Gustavus had the answer just over six minutes later on the power play.
Allison Eder-Zdechlik (Fy., Stillwater, Minn.) took advantage of the extra skater and found the back of the net to put the Gusties on top 2-1. Eder-Zdechlik was assisted by Lindsey Hjelm (Sr., North Oaks, Minn.) and Carolyn Draayer (So., Deep Haven, Minn.) on the play. Jenna Christensen put the seal on the win with an empty-net goal. Christensen’s second goal of the weekend came with :08 remaining in the contest on an assist from Wanecke and the Gustie women skated away with the 3-1 victory.
Lindsey Hibbard (Fy., Princeton, Minn.) got the win in net for Gustavus on an afternoon where the Gusties outshot the Wildcats 55-13. The first-year goalie gave up just one goal and tallied 12 saves in the win.
The Gusties will be back on the ice next Friday night, Jan. 25th when they host Concordia College. Opening faceoff for that contest is set for 7:00 p.m. at Don Roberts Ice Rink.