Tina Press (right) and her linemates celebrate a power play goal in the second period.
MIDDLEBURY, Vt. – The Gustavus Adolphus College women’s hockey team defeated Plattsburgh State 5-1 in an NCAA Division III semifinal game on Friday afternoon at Middlebury College, advancing to the national championship game tomorrow night. The Golden Gusties, who will play the winner of tonight’s game between Elmira and Middlebury, now hold an overall record of 25-3-2 on the season. The win marks a historic moment for the Gustavus women’s hockey program, which has reached the Frozen Four nine times but never reached the NCAA Division III championship game until now.
“A lot of alumni have paved the way for the girls,” Head Coach Mike Carroll said of the program’s first ever national championship game appearance. “Our coaches did a good job and the girls hung with it and I couldn’t be happier for our school. We’re really looking forward to tomorrow.”
Plattsburgh State, the defending champions from the last pre-COVID-19 national tournament in 2019, scored just 1:21 into the game to go up 1-0, but the Gusties responded 46 seconds later with a goal from Molly McHugh (Jr., Minnetonka) to tie the game at 1-1. From there, the Gusties didn’t look back, adding a goal from Hailey Holland (Jr., Aberdeen, S.D.) with 6:35 left in the first period to take a 2-1 lead into the first intermission.
Brooke Power celebrates her short-handed breakaway goal.
Gustavus added a power play goal from Tina Press (Sr., Cottage Grove) at 17:04 of the second period to stretch the lead to 3-1 before Plattsburgh had a would-be goal waved off for high-sticking at 16:46. The Gusties notched a short-handed goal from Brooke Power (So., Lakeville) with 12:38 left in the second to increase the lead to 4-1, and Hannah Gray (Fy., Stillwater, Minn.) closed the scoring with 4:49 remaining in the contest to push the final score to 5-1 in favor of the Gusties.
Gustavus was seemingly in full control throughout the majority of the game, outshooting the Cardinals 35-16. Katie McCoy (Jr., Grafton, Wis.) stood up to a number of Plattsburgh scoring chances and made 15 saves in the win. The Gusties went 1-for-4 on the power play and killed off Plattsburgh’s lone advantage.
“We talked a lot about what it means to wear the three crowns at Gustavus and what it takes to be successful,” senior captain Tina Press said. “So being able to leave our mark as a team and say we made it to the championship, and hopefully we’re not done there, we have a big game tomorrow that we’re going to leave our mark, just like the alumni have done.”
The NCAA Division III championship game takes place on Saturday, March 19 at 7 p.m. Eastern/6 p.m. Central and will be live streamed online at the championships website.
I was there; it was a great game and the Gustie Women really did dominate after Plattsburgh’s quick goal within the first two minutes of the game. It was as if the ice was sloping toward the opponent’s goalie most of the game. And there was a great group of Gustie faithful cheering the team on. With Middlebury being undefeated this season, I’m looking for an upset in tomorrow’s championship game – there have been so many upsets at all levels of basketball already, that having one in Women’s D-3 Hockey should certainly not be impossible.
And who better to do it than Gustavus. GO GUSTIES!!! I had draped my Gustavus “G” blanket over the Plexiglass behind the GA bench to bring the team a visible touch of home; maybe it actually was a 60 year old “good-luck-charm” radiating out over the team from those 6 decades past. One never knows. Kudos to the coaches, the team, and all support staff. A really quality game was witnessed by all.
Dale Gustafson, Class of ’61