MIDDLEBURY, Vt. – The No. 9 Gustavus Adolphus College women’s hockey team was not able to hold onto an early lead and suffered a 2-1 loss to No. 2 Elmira College on Saturday afternoon at Chip Kenyon ‘85 Arena. The loss drops the Gusties to 3-2-2 overall and 1-2-0 against ranked opponents, while the Soaring Eagles improve to 7-1-0 on the season.
Gustavus came out of the gates firing, as it tallied five shots within the first five minutes of play. Then, at 11:54 in the first, Elmira’s Phoebe Piku was whistled for throwing her stick. The Gusties’ Allison Eder-Zdechlik (Sr., Stillwater, Minn.) took advantage just 20 seconds later as she put home her eighth goal of the season when she tapped home a loose puck in front of the Soaring Eagle goal. The score extended Eder-Zdechlik’s point streak to five and gave Gustavus a 1-0 lead.
From that point, momentum began to trickle to Elmira’s side. With 3:30 remaining in the first period, Elmira’s Kristin Chivers laced a shot from the right side that hit the far pipe. At 19:40, the Soaring Eagles tied the score at 1-1 when Louisa Lippiatt Durnell rifled a shot from between the circles’ top shelf to the far pipe off assists from Chivers and Anna Tude.
In the second period, Elmira continued to fire away, but Gustavus rookie goalie Amanda DiNella (Oakbrook Terrace, Ill.) kept the score tied at 1-1 after making several noteworthy saves, including getting her entire body in front of a 1-on-1 opportunity with the Soaring Eagles’ Maddy Jerolman at 17:50.
Neither team was afforded many scoring opportunities in the third, but Elmira took advantage of one of its few early on when Olivia Nystrom tipped in a rebound from Kyra McDonald at the near post just 1:37 into the period to give the Soaring Eagles a 2-1 lead.
Gustavus actually scored the game-tying goal at 18:54, but referees disallowed the goal due to a hand pass off a deflected shot in front of the net. At that point, the Gusties pulled DiNella from the goal and Kaitlyn Klein (So., Plymouth, Minn.) was able to fire off a pair of shots in the final seconds, but Elmira netminder Kyle Nelson made saves on each to secure a victory for the defending national runner-up.
The Gusties outshot the Soaring Eagles 24-19 and found themselves on the power play for 14 minutes due to seven Elmira penalties. DiNella suffered the loss between the pipes after allowing two goals and making 17 saves in 58:54 of play.
Gustavus’s schedule will not get any easier, as it will face two-time defending national champion and current No. 1 Plattsburgh State University tomorrow afternoon at 1 p.m.