BLAINE, Minn. – The Gustavus women’s hockey team claimed its second-straight weekend series sweep with a 3-0 shutout victory at Bethel University Saturday afternoon, improving its overall record to 15-5-3 and its MIAC record to 11-2-3.
With the seventh shutout win of the year, the Gusties are now unbeaten in their last 11 games, going 9-0-2 since the last loss against UW-River Falls Dec. 10.
“Similar to yesterday, we didn’t have to best start but we really buckled down in the second period and continued to play well as the game progressed,” said Head Coach Mike Carroll. “The one big difference was we scored first and we kept them off the board. It was a pretty gritty game today and the kids did a lot of good things in tough spaces. It was a good team win and sweep.”
After a scoreless first period, the Gusties tallied the eventual game-winning goal early into the second period as Kaitlyn Klein (Jr., Plymouth, Minn.) scored her team-leading 10th of the season at the 1:25 minute mark with help from Laine Fischer (So., Northfield, Minn.).
Gustavus gained a 2-0 lead just six minutes later. Erica Power (Jr., Lakeville, Minn.) made a nice individual effort to deke through a Bethel defender, then centered a pass to Rachel Skoglund (Jr., Forest Lake, Minn.) who capitalized for her second goal of the season.
Bethel trailed Gustavus in shots on goal, 23-15 heading into the third period and pushed back in the final frame to outshoot the Gusties 5-4 but couldn’t find the back of the net. The Gustavus penalty kill was strong as they shut down three Bethel power play opportunities and netminder Amanda DiNella (So., Oakbrook Terrace, Ill.) turned away 20 Bethel shots to pick up her league-leading seventh shutout of the season and improve her record to 10-2-2.
With under a minute remaining in the final frame, the Gusties added an empty net goal from Kristen Cash (Fy., Roseville, Minn.) to push the lead to 3-0, where it stood as the final score to allow Gustavus to take four points on the weekend.
“I think our team has slowly matured and bought in to trust in their teammates,” Carroll commented. “Earlier in the season, we kind of looked and waited for someone to do the work and were a second too slow to react here and there. We’re hoping we can have a great practice Monday, take it day by day and have another good weekend.”
The Black and Gold close out the regular season next weekend with a series against Hamline University. The Gusties host the Pipers Friday night at Don Roberts Ice Rink before heading to St. Paul Saturday afternoon.