SAINT PETER, Minn. – The Gustavus women’s hockey team will begin their 2018-19 MIAC season tonight when they head to Northfield to take on the Oles of St. Olaf for a 7:30 p.m. contest.
The Series
Tonight’s matchup will be the 44th all-time meeting between the two teams with the Gusties leading the series 38-2-3. When the two teams played on Jan. 20th and 21st last season, the Gusties came away with 3-0, and 7-1 wins.
Scouting the Gusties
Coming into the season the Gusties had a strong retuning core, a tough goaltender, and a lot of new faces, and all three have been evident in the first two contests of the season. Allie Stanger (Sr., Paynesville, Minn.), a captain for the second consecutive season, has tallied a goal and an assist so far for the Gusties including the game-winning goal against UW-Superior in the first game of the season. Kristina Press (Fy., Cottage Grove, Minn.) has also notched a goal and assist to tally two points. The other two goals this season for the Gusties have been scored by Jamie Byrne (Fy., Delano, Minn.) and Laine Fischer (Sr., Northfield, Minn.). Amanda DiNella (Sr., Oakbrook Terrace) has proved why she is a two-time All-American in that she has saved 72 shots while allowing just three goals. Her performance versus No. 9 ranked UW-Eau Claire last week of 51 saves, helped her garner d3hockey.com Goaltender of the Week and MIAC Player of the Week honors.
Scouting the Oles
St. Olaf started off their season with a doubleheader versus the always tough UW-Stevens Point Pointers. The Oles lost the contests by scores of 1-4 and 2-5. So far on the season the Oles have gotten goals from Maddy Johnson, Mary Kate Eiden and Carolyn Carpenter. Although St. Olaf lost their top two scorers from last season to graduation, the Oles return 13 of their top 15 point scorers and will look to that experience to improve on their 5-17-3 record from last season.