ST. PETER, Minn. – The Gustavus women’s hockey team earned its first Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference victory of its young season as they held on to a 1-0 victory over Augsburg College Friday night at Don Roberts Ice Rink.
With the win Gustavus moves it overall record to 2-2-1 (1-1-1 MIAC), while Augsburg falls to 5-2 (2-1 MIAC).
A goal from Courtney Bethune (Sr., Fort Frances, Ontario) midway through the second period proved to be the game-winning goal. Just five seconds after an unsuccessful Gustavus power play, Laura Johnson (Jr., Chanhassen, Minn.) controlled the puck at the point before sending it down to Allie Stanger (So., Paynesville, Minn.) on the half-wall. Stanger centered a pass that Bethune redirected past Auggie netiminder Rebecca Sonnek for her first of the season. Bethune’s goal also stands as her first game-winner and her first since her freshman season in 2013-14.
The Gusties brought a hot start into the first period and led the Auggies in the shot total, 10-4. After two periods of play, Gustavus led the shot count, 14-11 as they kept the momentum rolling and established a strong forecheck.
“We really wanted to be aggressive and bring it,” said Head Coach Mike Carroll. “Obviously the game plan was to score a lot more goals than we did, but it takes the defense and forwards to work together to make that happen.”
Augsburg had a strong push back in the third period and had the Gusties back on their heels for most of the period. They ended up outshooting Gustavus in the period, 9-7.
With under three minutes in the game, Gustavus took a too many men penalty, giving Augsburg a final chance to even the score. Goaltender Amanda DiNella (So., Oakbrook Terrace, Ill.) was up to the task as she shut down the Auggie attack, notching 20 total saves for her first shutout of the season and the second of her career.
“Our team grew up a little today just because in the third period there were a lot of things going on and Augsburg played great at the end there,” Carroll commented. “We weathered the storm with some penalties and got a discombobulated with a too many men penalty, which could of cost us. Our goaltender (DiNella) played exceptional, when we needed her especially.”
The Black and Gold led Augsburg in total shots on goal, 21-20 and each squad went 0-3 on the man advantage.
“Our power play percentage has been good going in, but we haven’t been happy with making the goalie work hard to see pucks. We need to get people in front of the net. We have looked great in practice but have been looking a bit unorganized on the power play so hopefully we can get that figured out. We’re happy that we got the win and we thought we played well for a while but we wanna play a lot better tomorrow for three periods of play,” said Carroll.
Gustavus concludes the series with the Auggies tomorrow as they travel to Minneapolis, Minn. for a 7 p.m. puck drop at Ed Saugestad Rink.