SAINT PETER, Minn. — The Gustavus women's hockey team rolled to a 5-0 non-conference win over Aurora Friday night at Don Roberts Ice Rink, scoring three goals on the power play to lead the team over Spartans in the teams' first-ever meeting. The win marked career head coaching win 500 for
Mike Carroll, who becomes the fifth women's hockey coach in all divisions of NCAA women's hockey - and second in Division III - to reach the milestone. The Gusties improve to 8-1-0 overall, while the Spartans drop to 7-5-0 overall.
The Gustie power play was firing on all cylinders to begin the game, as
Sophia Coltvet added to her team, conference, and NCAA lead in power play goals with her fifth of the season.
Emily Olson added another with the player advantage at the end of the first period, tipping a shot from
Kylie Scott to give the Gusties a 2-0 advantage at the first intermission.
Scott added another assist on the Gusties' next tally, as they opened the third period with a rocket from
Brooke Power, who took the feed from Scott and
Lily Mortenson at the top of the circle for the team's third - and third on the power play - for the only goal of second period.
Olson, who entered the game without a goal on the season, left with a multi-goal game, scoring the fourth goal just 0:28 into the final stanza. Olson once again tipped a Scott shot in past Aurora goaltender Tia Glube for her second of the night.
Hailey Holland added the final punctuation mark in Coach Carroll's 500th win, scoring off a deflection on a Spartan defender to wrap the game up with a five goal advantage for the Gusties.
Katie McCoy was certainly tested between the pipes, facing off against Aurora's Darci Matson, this season's NCAA point leader and last season's Division III Laura Hurd National Player of the Year. McCoy stopped all 27 shots she faced, and maintained her shutout despite a tipped-in goal from Matson that was waved off for high-sticking.
Hailey Holland finished with a team-high six shots, followed by Olson with five, while Power and
Hannah Gray each chipped in three to the Gustie total of 27.
The Gusties will host Aurora for the second game of the two-game series tomorrow at 2 p.m. at Don Roberts Ice Rink.
