Kaitlyn Klein scored the Gusties game-winner in a 3-2 victory over Saint Mary's on Friday evening.
ST. PETER, MINN. – The Gustavus Adolphus women’s hockey team was able to capture its fourth straight win when it earned a 3-2 victory over Saint Mary’s University on Friday evening at Don Roberts Ice Rink. The Gusties converted on two power play opportunities, including one from first-year forward Kaitlyn Klein (Plymouth, Minn.) with less than five minutes to play, to defeat the Cardinals who came into the game with a third place standing in the MIAC standings. With the win, Gustavus moves to 8-0-1 in the MIAC and 12-2-2 overall, while Saint Mary’s falls to 5-3-1 in conference play and 7-7-2 overall.
“We have to hand it to Saint Mary’s…they played their hearts out and did a great job of winning a lot of races, especially early in the game,” said head coach Mike Carroll. “I’m disappointed in our girls as to how they responded at the beginning of the game. If we could have come out and set the pace and tempo, our team would have had more success. On the flip side, good teams find a way to win and that’s what we did tonight. Lesser teams probably would have folded after they tied it at two, but we rallied and got the goal we needed. We’d like to win every game 5-0, but each game is so different and ultimately the win is what’s important.”
Erica Power added to her team-leading point total when she registered her sixth goal and 16th point of the season on Friday.
Gustavus got out to a rocky start when first-year Laura Johnson (Chanhassen, Minn.) was called for a hooking penalty after attempting to wrap herself around a Cardinal forward to prevent a shot. The Gusties were able to clear the puck for more than three-quarters of the two-minute minor, but Saint Marys’ Mary DeBartolo found the net on the Cardinals’ lone shot attempt of the power play to put the visitors up 1-0.
“We didn’t do some of those ‘get your hands dirty’ plays that we talked about last week and know we can do,” said Carroll. “We let them have too many chances in that first period. We’re really going to need to tighten up tomorrow because they’re a team that can really let it fly.”
The Gusties were held off the board until the 6:48 mark in the second period when Allison Eder-Zdechlik (Jr., Stillwater, Minn.) chipped the puck past Saint Mary’s goaltender Tori Herrmann from the left post to score her ninth goal of the season and push her point streak to six. Carolyn Draayer (Sr., Deephaven, Minn.) was credited with her fourth assist of the season on the play.
No more scoring occurred until the third period when Gustavus took its first lead of the game with a power play goal of its own after Erica Power (Fy., Lakeville, Minn.) fired a wrister from the right circle that found its way through traffic to allow the Gusties to take a 2-1 lead with 12:10 remaining in the game. The goal was Power’s sixth of the season and came off assists from fellow first-year Katie Aney (Rochester, Minn.) and sophomore Lydia Wagner (Zumbrota, Minn.).
Saint Mary’s first-year Breanna Peterson was able to knot the score up again when she notched her team-leading eighth goal of the season at the 9:01 mark in the third period. Six and a half minutes later, the Cardinals’ Jesse Cwik was called for hooking and the Gusties took advantage. Aney was able to fire off an initial shot that nearly passed by Herrmann, but couldn’t break the goal line. However, Klein was there to clean up the mess and converted on a rebound opportunity from the left slot to give the Gusties a 3-2 lead that would hold for the remainder of the game.
“We need to make a better effort to win races all over the ice and get a little more gritty,” said Carroll. “We created a lot of odd-man rushes, but just didn’t connect on as many of those as we would have liked. That being said, the good part is we’re giving ourselves great opportunities, now we just need to convert a few more.”
Lindsey Hibbard (Jr., Princeton, Minn.) earned her tenth win of the season with her 60 minutes between the pipes. Hibbard allowed two goals and made 17 saves to improve her record to 10-2-2 on the year. Herrmann, who took home MIAC women’s hockey player of the week honors this past Monday, suffered the loss for the Cardinals. Hermann allowed three goals and made 26 saves to see her record drop to 4-3-0 on the season.
Despite Saint Mary’s winning many early face-offs, Gustavus held a 30-25 advantage on the evening. Aney, who holds a .748 face-off percentage on the season (77-26), was 8-1 in Friday’s game.
The Gusties will look to complete their second series sweep in a row tomorrow when they travel to Winona, Minnesota for game two against the Cardinals. Face-off for that game is slated for 2 p.m. at SMU Ice Rink.
Gustavus 3, Saint Mary’s 2 (Box Score) | Photo Gallery