RIVER FALLS, Wis. - Gustavus women's hockey was held scoreless Tuesday night in River Falls, dropping their second game in a row to the No. 1 ranked Falcons, 5-0. Sophomore goaltender
Lily Timmons (Lake Elmo, Minn.) made 29 saves in the loss and the Gusties blocked another 11 shots.
The first period of the game seemed to be shot out of a cannon, with both teams having chances on each end in the first five minutes of the game. On two separate occasions, the Gusties found themselves with a 2-on-1 situation, but both times were thwarted by the Falcon goaltender. The chances slowed in the end of the period, with the Gusties only wrapping the period up with six shots on goal and going 0-for-1 on the power play. UW-River Falls, on the other hand, used a deflection in front of the net to sneak one past Timmons and then scored a second goal just under four minutes later, finding the top twine for their second goal of the night. Timmons and the Gustie defense still faced the first period pressure well, saving 13 shots on goal and blocking six more. With five seconds left in the period, the Gusties took a penalty, setting up the Falcon power-play to start the second period, which had operated at a .432 (19-44) percentage coming into Tuesday's contest.
The Falcons wasted no time, scoring just 42 seconds into the power-play to extend their lead to three. After settling into the period, the Gusties forced saves out of the UW-River Falls goaltender, including a flurry of four shots in 45 seconds, starting at the 7:54 of the period. Gustavus had another power play opportunity, starting just past the halfway point of the period, but did not register a shot on goal on the player advantage. UW-River Falls did take advantage of the player advantage on their second time of asking in the period, scoring in the slot to extend their lead to four. The Gusties' first successful kill came later in the period, withstanding two minutes of pressure through a block by senior
Gianna Gasparini (Lakeville, Minn.) and three saves from Timmons. Shots on goal were even through the period at nine apiece and the Falcons held the slight advantage in faceoff wins, winning nine of 17 during the second frame.
The final frame of the game was led by sustained pressure from UW-River Falls, leaving the Gusties without a shot on goal until the 13:51 mark of the period. This included a power-play opportunity for Gustavus, who were kept to one shot, which was blocked by a Falcon. The Falcons got their fifth of the night on the power play, continuing their power-play success this season. The Gusties put pressure on the UW-River Falls defense in the closing seconds of the game, but could not find the back of the net.
Three Gusties had three shots on the night including senior
Lily Mortenson (Champlin, Minn.) who also led the team with 10 faceoff wins.
Talia Domschot (Fy., White Bear Lake, Minn.) and sophomore
Hannah Thompson (Lino Lakes, Minn.) both blocked three shots in the loss, keeping shots away from Timmons, who made 29 saves.
The Gusties get back to MIAC this weekend, traveling to Saint Mary's on Friday night before hosting the Cardinals on Saturday afternoon.
