SAINT PETER, Minn. – The No. 7 Gustavus women’s hockey team got back on the winning track with a 8-0 win over St. Olaf Thursday night. With the victory the Gusties improve to 10-2-1 overall and 6-0-1 in the MIAC while the Oles fall to 0-12-2 and 0-7-2 in the league.
While Gustavus outshot St. Olaf 19-1 in the first, both teams remained scoreless after one period of play.
“I thought we started just fine,” said Head Coach Mike Carroll. “We stayed the course, stuck with it, and it was nice to see them put the puck in the net and score eight goals”
The Gusties then exploded for six goals in the second period. The first goal game occurred at the 4:19 mark as Heather Olinger’s (Fy., Prior Lake) shot was deflected by Clara Billings (Fy., Rochester) in front of the Ole net. Fifty seconds later it was Grace Schulte (So., Little Falls) getting her first goal of the season. Molly McHugh (Fy., Minnetonka) would push the Gustie lead to 3-0 at the 8:17 mark with her fourth goal of the season. Less than a minute later, Olinger got her first goal of the season, firing a shot from just in front of the blue line. With just over five minutes remaining in the second, Emily Olson (Fy., Delano) fired a shot that caught the top right corner of the net to increase the Gustavus lead to 5-0. And in the final 20 seconds of the frame, Schulte tallied her second goal of the evening as the Gusties took a six goal lead into the second intermission.
In the third, Amelia Vosen (Sr., Anoka) notched her first goal of the season at the 13:27 mark, increasing the lead to seven. Olson got her second goal of the night with 3:33 to play, putting the Gusties up 8-0.
Katie McCoy (Fy., Grafton, Wis.) got the start for the Gusties in net. She improved her record to 4-0-1 while making six saves on the evening.
The eight goals scored are the most by Gustavus since it defeated Hamline 9-3 on Feb. 19, 2016.
“Every game in our conference is tough and everyone’s going to bring their A-game when they play teams in the standings that are above them, so we just need to be ready Saturday and not take anything for granted,” added Carroll.
Gustavus heads to Northfield for the second game of the series Saturday. Puck drop is set for 2 p.m. at The St. Olaf Ice Arena.