(MENDOTA HEIGHTS–Minn.) A pair of goals by forward Courtney Umland and defender Megan Juricko were enough for the St. Thomas women’s hockey team to come back from a 0-2 deficit to defeat St. Mary’s University 4-3 Saturday at St. Thomas Arena in Mendota Heights.
St. Thomas (1-1 overall, 1-0 MIAC) came out sluggish after losing its season opener against Wisconsin-River Falls 9-3 last weekend. The Tommies quickly fell behind 2-0 to the Cardinals (0-2 overall), but used a flurry of second-period goals to withstand St. Mary’s late comeback push.
“We dug down. We didn’t play great team defense that third period, but we found a way,” coach Tom Palkowski said. “Sometimes to get that first win of the year, that’s what you need.”
A near own goal by St. Mary’s and Tommie goalie Alise Riedel’s butterfly save started off the first MIAC matchup for St. Thomas. After a close period of shots on goal, 11 for St. Thomas and eight for St. Mary’s, the Cardinals took the lead 1-0 on a forward Jesse Cwik goal in the 17th minute.
“We started off a little slow, but we obviously came back and finished strong, which is what’s important,” Juricko said.
St. Thomas defender Mackenzie Holm started the second period off strong, committing a goal-saving penalty to stop the Cardinals’ drive on a 3-on-1 rush. The move seemed to be futile when Cardinal forward Lindsay Paschke scored on the power play within minutes to increase St. Mary’s lead to 2-0.
The Tommies didn’t give up, storming back with a 2-on-1 rush led by forward Morgan Olson, who saucered the puck from left to right with Umland there to finish it off, shortening the Tommies’ deficit to 2-1. St. Thomas then used a 5-on-3 advantage after a pair of Cardinal penalties to open up the ice for Juricko to sneak behind St. Mary’s goalie Sarah Gustafson for a power-play goal.
With the game tied 2-2 in the second, St. Mary’s pulled ahead by one again with help from a forward Haley Coolsaet slap shot. With under a minute left, Juricko once again maneuvered her way around a sprawled-out Gustafson to tie the score 3-3.
“It was basically just my teammates setting me up, I was just in the right place at the right time,” Juricko said.
After an already chaotic second period, the Cardinals’ seemed willing to head to the locker room tied at three apiece- the Tommies made the most of the time left on the clock. Umland only needed five seconds left in the period to convert a breakaway into a game-winning goal.
“We’ll take a (win); it was hard earned. First conference game, both teams were hungry,” Palkowski said. “You fall behind 2-0, showed some character; the girls rallied and came back.”
The Cardinals used an onslaught of shots in the third period, each time being denied by the Tommies. Riedel stopped 25 of 28 shots and needed some help from her defense to keep the lead at 4-3. With eight minutes to play, defender Tori Bailey single handedly stopped a 2-on-1 break with her last minute dive in front of a Cardinal pass.
After notching their first conference and season victory of the year, St. Thomas will travel south Sunday to take on the Cardinals again at St. Mary’s.
Joey Anderson can be reached at ande9008@stthomas.edu.