The Gustavus women’s hockey team lost to the University of St. Thomas 2-1 on Friday night in St. Peter as Kara Ledel scored the game-winner for the Tommies with 4:35 remaining in the third period. The loss was the first for Gustavus against a conference opponent in 51 matches (just under three years). Melissa Mackley scored the lone goal for the Gusties who fall to 2-2-1 overall and 2-1-0 in the MIAC.
Gustavus took a 1-0 lead in the game when senior forward Melissa Mackley scored at 18:05 of the first period with an assist from Sara Yungner. The Gusties, who outshot the Tommies 11-2 in the first 20 minutes went to the lockerroom with a 1-0 lead.
The Tommies tied the score at 1-1 when Kara Ledel scored at 7:43 of the second period. Neither team would score the rest of the period and the scored was tied 1-1 after two periods. The Tommies out-shot the Gusties 7-6 in the period.
The Gusties took charge early in the third period and controlled play for the first 15 minutes of play out-shooting the Tommies 26-2 with numerous point-blank opportunities due to three St. Thomas penalties. Goaltender Lauren Bradel kept the Tommies in the game with some key saves. After a face-off in the Tommie zone near the 15:00 minute mark, Kara Ledel broke free up the right side of the ice. With a 2-1 advantage, Ledel skated in on Danielle Justice and beat her on the glove side for the game-winner at the 15:25 mark. Assists were given to Meghan Parker and Jenny Schnaible. St. Thomas took charge of the final four minutes of play controlling the puck and out-shooting the Gusties 4-0 and skated off with the 2-1 victory.
The Gusties finished with a 31-15 advantage in shots. The Tommies were 1-for-3 on the power play, while the Gusties were 0-for-4 with the skater advantage.
Lauren Bradel picked up the win in the nets for St. Thomas. She registered 30 saves and allowed one goal. Danielle Justice suffered the loss for the Gusties. She turned away 13 shots and allowed two goals.
The last time Gustavus had lost a MIAC regular season contest was a 1-0 setback to St. Thomas on Feb. 3, 2007. Since that time Gustavus has posted a record of 42-0-2 in regular season conference matches and 6-0-0 in MIAC Post-Season contests. It is the longest winning streak in the history of MIAC women’s hockey.
Gustavus and St. Thomas will play the final game of the series on Saturday afternoon at 2:00 pm at the St. Thomas Ice Rink in Mendota Heights.