WINONA, Minn. — The Gustavus women's hockey team scored three unanswered goals to erase an early deficit against Saint Mary's, taking advantage of power play opportunities to defeat the Cardinals 3-1 on the road. The Gusties got goals from both Holland sisters and Brooke Power, and 14 saves between the pipes from Katie McCoy for the MIAC win. The Gusties improve to 6-0 overall and 5-0 in the conference, while the Cardinals drop to 7-3 overall and 3-2 in the MIAC.

The Cardinals, ranked second in the MIAC standings coming into Friday's game, scored the first goal midway through the first period to take an early lead. The goal, off the stick of junior Kas Kingston, is just the second the Gusties have allowed all season, breaking McCoy's shutout streak at just over four games and about 258 minutes. The Cardinals held the lead heading into the locker room at first intermission, but Gustavus owned the advantage in shots on goal, 12-4. 

Kaitlyn Holland opened the scoring for the Gusties early in the second, capitalizing on the power play for her third goal of the year. Four different Gusties passed the puck around the offensive zone without interruption from the Cardinals to start the play. Kylie Scott sent the puck down low to Hailey Holland below the goal line, who fed the puck to her sister in front to even the score 4:29 into the second stanza. Brooke Power scored the game-winner, another power play goal, as she sent the puck in the back of the net with just 0:01 left on the player advantage. Power was fed the puck once again from Hailey Holland below the goal line, who factored in on all three Gustie goals. 

The Gusties dominated the third period of play, stifling any hopes of a Cardinal comeback. Hailey Holland sealed the deal, walking in on Cardinal goaltender Celeste Rimstad on the goal line and sending a shot into the back of the net from a near-impossible angle. Saint Mary's put four more shot attempts toward McCoy after Holland's goal, but it wasn't enough, as Gustavus walked away from Winona with the victory.

Kaitlyn Holland finished with the team lead in shots, totaling seven on the Cardinal goal, while Power and Hannah Gray each added six to the total. A total of 14 Gusties had a shot on goal, contributing to a total of 40 on the day. The Gusties also blocked a season-high 14 shots. With the win between the pipes, Katie McCoy is now at 67 in her career, effectively tying the MIAC record for career wins held by St. Thomas' Kenzie Torpy (2015-19).

The Gusties are back in action for the second game of the series tomorrow afternoon, hosting the Cardinals at 2 p.m. at Don Roberts Ice Rink.
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