SAINT PETER, Minn. – No. 6 Gustavus women’s hockey Saturday afternoon got off to a quick start with two goals in the first 10 minutes and went on to beat Concordia 5-1 in a MIAC playoff quarterfinal game at Don Roberts Ice Rink. The Gusties improve to 20-3-2 and will host St. Scholastica in a MIAC semifinal game on Wednesday night.
Nearly six minutes into the game Hailey Holland (Jr., Aberdeen, S.D.) snuck one past the Cobber goalie with the help of Molly McHugh (Jr., Minnetonka) for the early lead. At the 9:29 mark, Kayla Vrieze (Sr., Eagan) went five-hole for what proved to be the game-winning goal, assisted by Steph Anderson (Sr., Blaine), and the Gusties led 2-0 at the first intermission.
“It’s been a whole week since we played a game so it’s been a different week of practice,” Head Coach Mike Carroll said. “We pulled back on the players to keep them fresh so I was a little concerned that we would come out flat but we didn’t and that was huge. In the second period we got in a funk and didn’t do the things we wanted to do but we finished strong and did a good job of handling things, and for the most part staying out of the penalty box.”
Madigan Goldsworthy (Sr., Chaska) had an open break up the left side and scored unassisted at the 14:26 mark of the second period. The Cobbers ended the shutout 2:21 into the third period, but the Gusties answered two minutes later as Vrieze scored her second goal of the game on a power play. Holland and McHugh were credited with the assists. Emily Olson (Jr., Delano) put a stamp on the game at the 16:02 mark with another power play goal with the help of Brooke Power (So., Lakeville) and Clara Billings (Jr., Rochester).
“We had some really good contributions from our green and orange lines today,” Carroll said. “We try to roll four lines when we can. A lot of times we have to go to three, but we got in a flow today and played well which allowed us to keep rolling.”
The Gusties outshot the Cobbers 31-9 as Katie McCoy (Jr., Grafton, Wis.) made eight saves for the win. Concordia went 0-for-1 on the power play while the Gusties were 2-for-6.