SAINT PETER, Minn. – No. 4 Gustavus women’s hockey will play for the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference playoff championship in a week after securing a 4-1 victory over Saint Mary’s on Saturday afternoon at Don Roberts Ice Rink. Hailey Holland (Fy., Aberdeen, S.D.) highlighted the semifinal win with her second hat trick of the season. The Gusties, who are now 21-3-2 overall, will host Augsburg next Saturday, who defeated Hamline 2-1 in overtime.
Holland got the scoring started 7:30 into the game with a score assisted by Kristina Press (So., Cottage Grove). The Gusties held a 1-0 lead after the first period, but the Cardinals responded quickly in the second with a goal 46 seconds into the frame and held the momentum throughout a majority of the second. But 12 minutes after the Cardinal goal, the Gusties took advantage of a power play as Kayla Vrieze (So., Eagan) scored her third goal of the season with the help of senior captains Kristen Cash (Roseville) and Amelia Vosen (Anoka). Gustavus led 2-1 after 40 minutes.
“We had a heart to heart talk between the second and third about hitting the reset button flipping the switch, come out and play hard,” Head Coach Mike Carroll said. “You have to hand it to Saint Mary’s, they gave us a nice push in the second. It showed character on our team to be able to fight through that. There’s pressure in the locker room to get that done and if it doesn’t happen some seniors are going home. It was a good response by our team and I loved the way we played in the third period.”
Holland notched her second goal of the game at the 2:40 mark of the third with assists credited to Molly McHugh (Fy., Minnetonka) and Press. Holland then completed the hat trick with her 17th goal of the season at the 4:47 mark, assisted by Grace Schulte (So., Little Falls).
“For a freshman, she’s grown all season long, gotten better and better,” Carrol said. “We really lean on her, Molly, and Tina not only to play on the power play, but kill penalties as well. Hailey is one of the best penalty killers in the conference already. It’s good to see her get rewarded. Things were getting a little dicey for us but she stepped up. It was great to see.”
The Gusties outshot the Cardinals 30-13 as Katie McCoy (Fy., Grafton, Wis.) made 12 saves in goal. Gustavus went 2-for-3 on the power play and stopped all three Cardinals skater advantages.
Gustavus now prepares to host the MIAC championship next Saturday against Augsburg.
“There a good solid team,” Carroll said. “They have good defense, good forwards, and their goaltender is playing well. We swept them early but it was difficult. A couple hard games and they were a different team then, but so were we. We are confident and ready for the challenge because they are going to give us everything they got. Hopefully we’ll make a good response.”