By Jim Rueda
Free Press Sports Editor
ST PETER — For two periods, the Gustavus Adolphus women’s hockey team had dominated UW-River Falls both on the ice and on the stat sheets at Don Roberts Ice Rink Saturday afternoon.
Yet despite a 31-5 shot advantage, the Gusties had nothing to show for it in the quarterfinal game of the NCAA Division III national tournament. After 40 minutes, the score was still tied 0-0.
“I’ve been involved in a lot of games like this where you outplay and outshoot your opponent pretty badly but you can’t find a way to win,” Gustavus head coach Mike Carroll said afterward. “I just told the girls before the third period to not let a fluke goal beat us; to keep playing aggressive and working hard. I told them the whole season comes down to the last 20 minutes.”
Freshman forward Meagan Wanecke was obviously paying attention to Carroll’s pep talk as she took a feed from Melissa Mackley just 2:28 into the third period and snapped a slow shot from the right circle. The shot was defected by teammate Allie Schwab over River Falls goalie Cassie Campbell’s shoulder into the upper left corner of the net.
The score gave Gustavus a 1-0 lead and the Gusties went on to shut out River Falls 2-0. The win advances Gustavus to the D-III championship semifinals and finals, which it will host on Friday and Saturday in St. Peter.
“Everything was moving so fast I really don’t remember the goal,” Wanecke said afterward. “I took the shot and, the next thing I know, Allie is jumping on me and everybody else comes over and starts jumping on, too.”
A minute later, the Gusties Nara Higano took a pass from Kelsey Johnson and skated to the almost the exact same spot that Wanecke shot from. Higano slapped the puck past Campbell for an insurance goal and a 2-0 Gustavus lead.
“I don’t think the first goal took a weight off my shoulder so much as it did for the players,” Carroll said. “That sort of broke the tension; they started showing more emotion after that.”
Carroll said he was more concerned about UWRF’s ensuing possession because he feared a let down, but it never happened. The Gusties continued to dominate in the third and ended up with a 41-16 shot advantage.
The Gusties put on an impressive display of hustle and puck control over the final three minutes, keeping River Falls bottled up in its own end and not allowing Campbell to leave the net for a sixth skater.
Falcons’ head coach Joe Cranston said his team was never really in the game and there were few adjustments to be made.
“After the first period I tried to calm the players down and told them they had to get back to playing the way we know how,” he said. “But we never came around and Gustavus deserves a lot of credit for that. If you’re not stickhandling and you’re not moving your feet, it doesn’t matter what systems you use or how many adjustments you make, it’s not going to happen.”
Danielle Justice picked up the win in net, stopping all 16 shots. Campbell made 39 saves in the losing effort.
The contest included two players on the River Falls roster with area ties. Freshman center Alyssa Black is a Mankato West graduate and senior forward Abby Sunderman hails from Le Sueur.
“Last year’s playoff game was a lot more exciting because we won,” Sunderman said. “It really hasn’t hit me that my career is over yet. I’m sure when it does, I’ll be crying.”
River Falls ends the season at 20-4-6. Gustavus improves to 22-4-2 and will host Amherst in a semifinal game on Friday at a time to be announced.
