BLAINE, Minn. – No. 4 Gustavus women’s hockey won its sixth consecutive game Friday night, shutting out Bethel 4-0. The Gusties, who are one win away from claiming the MIAC championship, improve to 19-3-2 overall and 14-1-2 in the MIAC, while the Royals drop to 8-14-2 overall and 6-9-2 in the league.
“I was pleased with a lot of things tonight but one thing in particular was the way we responded to Bethel applying a lot of pressure early in the game,” Head Coach Mike Carroll said. “Uncharacteristically, we didn’t get into their end of the ice too much, but Tina had a nice goal and we got another one to take a two-goal lead into the second. Then we played really well in the second and third in all phases of the game.”
Kristina Press (So., Cottage Grove) scored what proved to be the game-winner 7:23 into the game with the help of Grace Schulte (So., Little Falls). With under two minutes remaining in the first, Hailey Holland (Fy., Aberdeen, S.D.) put the Gusties up 2-0 on an assist from Molly McHugh (Fy., Minnetonka).
Nearly 16 minutes into the second on a power play, Holland netted her second of the night and team-leading 14th of the season, again with the help of McHugh. And 4:52 into the third Lindsey Bjerke (Fy., New Prague) capped the scoring with assists going to Jordyn Peterson (So., Brookings, S.D.) and Jamie Byrne (So., Delano).
Emilia Helms-Leslie (So., Fairbanks, Alaska) earned the win in goal after making 16 saves. The Gusties outshot the Royals 37-16.
The series wraps up at 2 p.m. Saturday at Don Roberts Ice Rink.