WINONA, Minn. – After totaling six goals the night before, the sticks of the No. 3 Gustavus women's hockey team fell silent Saturday afternoon, dropping a 2-0 decision to Saint Mary's on the road. Saint Mary's (9-5-0, 4-4-0 MIAC) scored in the second period and added a late empty-netter to defeat the nationally-ranked Gusties (10-4-0, 6-2-0 MIAC).
Play started as a back-and-forth battle after puck drop, and
Brooke Power (5th, Lakeville, Minn.) nearly put the Gusties up in the first period, as a
Lily Mortenson (Jr., Champlin, Minn.) faceoff win ended up on the stick of the fifth-year senior, who scored four points the night before. Power's shot just grazed the elbow of Saint Mary's goaltender Magali Fillion to keep the score deadlocked at 0-0. The Gusties were awarded a 5-on-3 with three minutes left in the first period, but came up empty on all of their shot attempts on the power play.
SMU flipped the script in the second period, earning a 5-on-3 of their own, forcing
Lily Timmons (Fy., Stillwater, Minn.) to make a number of impressive saves in the first two minutes after intermission. The Gusties killed both penalties, but Saint Mary's was able to sneak one past Timmons four minutes into the second on a redirection in front of the crease.
Kayla Woytcke (Jr., Waconia, Minn.) hit a pipe immediately after the Cardinal goal, and Power added another one off the right post on a short-handed 5-on-3 breakaway, but the early goal held heading into the final intermission.
The two teams played nearly all of the third period in the Cardinal zone, with the Gusties totaling 18 shots on Fillion, including a number of dangerous rebounds, but couldn't push one past the first-year netminder.
Margot Bettman (Jr., Chicago, Ill.) created one of the best scoring chances in the third period, but Fillion made a sprawling save across the crease to keep the Cardinals ahead. The SMU defense and Fillion thwarted every late Gustie attempt, and sealed the win with an empty net goal with just eight seconds remaining in regulation to complete the upset.
The Gusties totaled 72 shot attempts against Saint Mary's Saturday afternoon, with 37 on target, compared to 30 and 16 for the Cardinals. Gustavus went a costly 0-for-4 with the player advantage, but shut out a trio of Saint Mary's power plays on the flip side. The Gusties won the battle in the circle for the second consecutive game, 32 wins to 18 losses (64 percent).
The win was the Cardinals' first over Gustavus since the 2015-16 season, a 2-0 decision in Saint Peter on Feb. 6, 2016.
Of the team's 30 shots on goal,
Kylie Ligday (So., Lake Elmo, Minn.) accounted for seven, while
Lindsay Berggren (Jr., Shoreview, Minn.) and
Kylie Scott (So., Dayton, Minn.) accounted for five. Timmons made 14 saves in her third loss of the season.
The Gusties continue conference play against St. Catherine (4-10-1, 2-6-0 MIAC) next weekend, heading to Drake Arena on Friday for a 6 p.m. puck drop before hosting the Wildcats at Don Roberts Ice Rink on Saturday afternoon.
