WINONA, Minn. - Most comic books only use one hero to tell a story. Tonight, No. 8/11 Gustavus women's hockey used two, blueliner Kaitlin Roberts (Hugo, Minn.) and goaltender Lily Timmons (Lake Elmo, Minn.), to take game one in the weekend series over Saint Mary's, grabbing the shootout point after ending regulation and overtime tied 1-1.

 The last time these two teams met in Winona, Saint Mary's halted a five-game winning streak for Gustavus and grabbed their first win against the Gusties since February 6, 2016. Sitting just two points apart in the MIAC standings, Friday's road test proved to be that, a test, for Gustavus, who used scoring from Roberts and stellar goaltending from Timmons to take one more point of separation in the MIAC standings. 

The first period was a cagey start for both teams, where Saint Mary's blocked four shots and only allowed six shots on goal for the Gusties on 15 shot attempts, whereas Saint Mary's got nine to sophomore goaltender Lily Timmons (Lake Elmo, Minn.). Seniors Lindsay Berggren (Shoreview, Minn.) and Grace Schuck (Bloomington, Minn.) led the offensive effort for the Gusties, each registering two shots on goal and the Gusties held an advantage in the faceoff dot, winning 8-of-11. At the 18:08 mark, a Cardinal shot took an unfortunate bounce off of a Gustie shin and bounced right back to the Saint Mary's player, who was able to catch Timmons off-guard and screened and tuck one into the net to put the Cardinals up 1-0. This proved to be the only goal of the period, sending the Gusties into the first intermission down 1-0. 

The second period turned more in the favor of the visiting Gustavus, with multiple high quality chances and scrums in front of the net for loose pucks. The scoresheet mirrored the play on the ice, with the Gusties holding Saint Mary's to four shots on goal, compared to the Gusties' 12. Just past halfway through the period the Gusties were able to break through, tying the game, 1-1. Sophomore Noelle Hemr (Blaine, Minn.) picked up the puck behind the net off a feed from Lily Mortenson (Sr., Champlin, Minn.) and passed it to classmate Roberts who shot the puck on net through Cardinal defenders and found the back of the net for her second goal of the season. Overall, Gustavus took 24 shots, nine of which were blocked by the Cardinals, leaving the home team with 13 blocks through two periods. 

The third period contained much more pressure, but this time with no result to show for it. The Gusties had 13 shots on goal in the period to the Cardinals' five, but were not able to find the game winning goal in regulation. The best chance of the period for the Gusties came with 30 seconds left in the game, when first-year Makaela Reinke (Hayward, Wis.) got the puck on a breakaway coming out of the penalty box, but was held up by the Cardinal goalie, sending the game to overtime. 

In the overtime period, the Cardinals flipped the script, forcing Gustavus to sustain the majority of the pressure. Timmons was forced to make three saves in the first minute of overtime for the Gusties before the visitors were able to settle in. Saint Mary's had a breakaway with just under two minutes left in the overtime session in which Timmons came up big again, making the save. With six seconds left, the Gusties thought they had won it after a shot from Mortenson hit Eva Nelson (So., Buffalo, Minn.)'s skate, but the official ruled that Nelson made a kicking motion towards the puck and disallowed the goal, setting up a shootout.

The shootout went seven rounds, with the Gusties taking it, 1-0. With the Gusties going first, pressure lied on Timmons each round to keep the Gusties in the game and advance to the next round and the pressure did not seem to bother the sophomore, forcing three Cardinals to miss and making three saves. One puck did get past Timmons, but the left post was on the Gusties' side, knocking the puck away in the sixth round and sending the shootout into the seventh. Roberts played hero once again, scoring for the Gusties as she faked a deke to her backhand and stuck with her lefty forehand and tucked it past the blocker of the Saint Mary's goaltender. Timmons made one last save and sent the Gusties home with the extra shootout point. 

The game contained just one special teams opportunity, with the Gusties killing off a penalty that started with 2:36 left to play in the game. Timmons made 22 saves in the victory, facing many more chances and odd-player rushes, but standing tall and pushing the Gusties to the finish line. 

The Gusties return home tomorrow at 2:00 p.m. for the reverse fixture, hosting Saint Mary's in the second of a weekend series. 
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