Gusties aim to defend MIAC title

The Gustavus Women’s Hockey team will play this weekend for the MIAC Championship against Augsburg. Sports Information.

Last weekend the Women’s hockey team faced Saint Mary’s University. On Friday night the Gusties won 3-2. Four of the games five goals occurred in the third period at what was truly a close game. Gustie goals were scored by Senior forward Melissa Mackley, First-year forward Lindsey Hjelm and Sophomore forward Mollie Carroll.

Saturday’s game against Saint Mary’s was another close match, but luckily the Gusties came out on top again with a 1-0 victory. First-year forward Tam Meuwissen scored the lone goal with an assist from Carroll. “The games were tough because we outshot Saint Mary’s by a lot, but we just had trouble finishing, Junior defender Kirstin Peterson said.

This weekend the Women’s hockey team will finish their regular season against Augsburg. Heading into the series, the Gusties own first place spot in the MIAC. They had been in a close race to the top with both St. Thomas and St. Kate’s. Last weekend the Gusties were able to sweep Saint Mary’s and after St. Thomas and St. Kate’s tied, the Gusties moved into first place.

With a sweep over Augsburg this weekend, the Gusties will finish the season as the number one team in the conference.

The Gusties are moving into this weekend’s series with a record of 12-3-1. “This weekend is really important because if we don’t win both games we forfeit our first place spot. We have to be perfect from here on out.

Augsburg is better than they have been in the past so we can’t over look them,” Peterson said.

Junior defender Kelsey Johnson agreed with Peterson. “[This weekend] will be a true test to see how well we can rise to the challenge. Although they [Augsburg] might not have the best record, we need to make sure we play up to our level instead of sinking down to theirs. We need to finish out the season strong and play our game,” Johnson said.

The women’s hockey team has a tradition of success but started off this year a little shaky. “The season didn’t start out the way I thought it would.

In the past few years we have won every single game by quite a bit, outshot every team and killed every game. This year we came out and tied to St. Thomas and split with St. Kate’s. They were teams that we never thought we would lose to, but now that the season has gone on it’s turning out better than I could have imagined.

There’s more competition than there was in past years. You really have to show up to play every day or you won’t be successful,” Peterson said.

Indeed, the pressure is on the Gusties, as they have won the MIAC title for the last five years. “We have so much talent. We just need to work together to use it to our advantage,” Sophomore forward Allie Schwab said.

“It seems as though the team has really come together toward the end of the season,” Sophomore forward Gina DeNucci said. “I love my team. I just love us. We have a lot of fun together.”

The Gusties have only progressed as the season has gone on, and they hope to be able to extend this momentum into playoffs. “We are capable of whatever we set our minds to. We have the talent. We just need to find it within ourselves to figure out what we want and come together as a team,” Johnson said.

Peterson shared Johnson’s optimism. “I have all the confidence in the world for us. We can beat any team that we face as long as we show up and play three consistent periods to our ability. If we do that, everything else will fall into place,” Peterson said.

The MIAC Women’s Hockey playoffs will be more intense than ever this year, which is just more of an incentive for fans to support their Golden Gustie women as they try to win their sixth consecutive MIAC title to earn the number one seed for the playoffs. The Gusties next game is at Augsburg at 5:05 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 26. The Gusties will conclude the series and regular season at home against Augsburg at the Don Roberts Ice Arena on Saturday, Feb. 27 at 2:00 p.m.