St. Peter, Minn. – The Gustavus women’s hockey team defeated Augsburg 5-0 on Friday night at Don Roberts Ice Rink, thanks in large part to Meagan Wanecke (Sr., Delafield, Wis.). Wanecke scored two goals and added two assists for a total of four points to lead the Gusties. She is the first player to score four points in a game since her teammate Jenna Christensen (Sr., Albert Lea, Minn.) did so in a 4-1 victory over UW-River Falls on March 11, 2011. With the win, Gustavus moves to 6-0-0 overall, 5-0-0 in the MIAC. Augsburg falls to 1-7-1 overall, 0-4-1 in the MIAC.
A slow start to the first period gave way to back-to-back goals from Meagan Wanecke in the final two minutes of the opening frame. At the 18:27 mark, Wanecke took a pass from Jenna Christensen in the slot and buried the puck in the back of the net to put the Gusties on top 1-0 early. Just :15 seconds later, Wanecke beat Augsburg goaltender Brianna Schulz top right on a two-on-one breakaway to give Gustavus a two-goal lead.
“Meagan’s two goals were great,” stated head coach Mike Carroll. “We needed to pick ourselves up because we weren’t really playing with any sense of urgency at the time.”
The Gusties committed three penalties in the first period, but were able to kill all three Auggie power plays, and went to the locker room for the first intermission with a 2-0 lead. In the second period, Gustavus tacked on another goal. Following an Amanda Cartony (Jr., Stillwater, Minn.) shot, Allison Eder-Zdechlik (Fy., Stillwater, Minn.) was all alone with an open net on the rebound. Eder-Zdechlik put it away for her fourth goal of the season. Cartony and Lindsey Hjelm (Sr., North Oaks, Minn.) were both credited with assists, and the Gusties went into the second intermission with a 3-0 lead.
The third period had two more goals in store for the Black and Gold. At the 8:31 mark, Melissa Doyle (Jr., White Bear Lake, Minn.) scored her second goal of the season. Doyle came up with a rebound and flipped it up and in to push the Gustie lead to 4-0. Wanecke and Maddie Bergh (Jr., Eden Prairie, Minn.) were given assists on the goal. Five minutes later, Kelly Thotland (So., Edina, Minn.) took advantage of a power play opportunity to finish the scoring for Gustavus. Thotland went top shelf to put the fifth and final goal on the scoreboard. Wanecke again had a hand in the goal with an assist. Leah Johnson (So., Chanhassen, Minn.) was also credited with a helper.
Gustavus took two more penalties in the third period, which brought its total to six on the night. Nonetheless, the Gusties were able to kill every penalty and keep Augsburg from converting on the power play.
“We did a great job killing penalties,” said Carroll. “We got a shutout, and Tara did a great job in her first varsity game.”
In her collegiate debut, Tara Hoverstad (Fy., Coon Rapids, Minn.) logged all 60 minutes in net on her way to her first career win. Hoverstad recorded 13 saves in the shutout victory. With Hoverstad’s win tonight, all three Gustavus goaltenders have notched a shut out in their young careers.
“Our effort was great tonight, we just need to learn when to have poise and patience with the puck,” finished Carroll. “Hopefully we can do a better job of that and get our power play figured out. It is going to be a key for us to capitalize if we get any power plays tomorrow. We need to get off to a fast start and try to feed off of the energy we had tonight.”
The Gustie women will head to Minneapolis tomorrow night for the second game of the weekend series with the Auggies. Puck drops at 7:00 p.m.