SAINT PETER, Minn. – In a back-and-forth battle to the end Saturday, No. 4 Gustavus women’s hockey secured an automatic qualifier to the NCAA Championships with a 3-0 victory over No. 10 Augsburg in the MIAC playoff championship, capturing its 12th conference playoff title in program history.
A Clara Billings (Fy., Rochester) power play goal midway through the second period proved to be the difference, backed by a pair of empty net goals late in the third by Hailey Holland (Fy., Aberdeen, S.D.) to seal the deal. The Gusties (22-3-2) will find out 9 a.m. Monday their opponent, time, and location of the first round regional matchup, which will likely take place next Saturday. The NCAA Division III Women’s Hockey Championships features 10 teams this season and will have two opening round games on Wednesday.
“Our goaltender did a great job and our defense was very stellar,” Head Coach Mike Carroll said. “Out forwards were selling out, doing whatever they could to help our team weather the storm. Early on we were a little overly aggressive with going down to block shots too early, and they were toe-dragging around us. We talked in the locker room about making sure that we timed it better or fake like we’re going down and stay up. Sure enough, two or three of those times they tried that in the third, we came up with the equalizer, so it was a really good team win. Very proud of the young ladies.”
The first period went scoreless in a tightly contested 20 minutes. Nearly eight minutes into the second, Augsburg was whistled for slashing and gave Gustavus the first power play of the game. With just 27 seconds left in the skater advantage, Billings put home her ninth goal of the season with the help of Grace Schulte (So., Little Falls) and Jordyn Peterson (So., Brookings, S.D.). Gustavus maintained a 1-0 lead through 40 minutes.
Both teams showed strong defense throughout the remainder of the game and Augsburg elected to pull its goalie with 2:33 left in the game. The Auggies got a couple shots on goal during the 6-of-5, but Holland took advantage of a loose puck and glided it into the back of the net with 1:19 left in the game. Forty seconds later, Holland lofted a shot from the Gustie defensive zone that slid into the net for her team-leading 19th goal of the season.
Gustavus outshot Augsburg 27-11 as Katie McCoy (Fy., Grafton, Wis.) stopped all 11 shots for her seventh shutout of the season.
Gustavus is making its 14th appearance in the NCAA tournament where it holds a 10-17 record. The Gusties’ last appearance was in 2018 when they lost to UW-Eau Claire 3-2 in triple overtime in the opening round.
“We have coaches that have been in this situation before and we have some seniors in the room that know what it’s like to be wondering if you’re in or out for a whole week, and then getting in and taking advantage of it,” Carroll said. “I don’t think we are going to have any issues with that. Today was the most important game of the season and now we’re going to catch our breath, have a couple good practices, and play whenever they tell us.”