ANGOLA, Ind. – The Trine University women's hockey team produced steady offense, scoring once in each period, on the way to a 3-2 victory against visiting Aurora University. The Spartans had won the past eight match-ups between the two teams.
Aurora struck first in the contest, scoring nearly ten minutes into the period to take a 1-0 lead.
The Thunder needed just three minutes to respond. After causing a turnover in the neutral zone, the team passed the puck along the boards to the far corner of the offensive end of the ice. Kailey Mleko helped tie play up there before ultimately winning the scrum and pushing the puck free. Payton Hans collected the loose puck and skated back toward the front of the net, firing a slightly awkward shot on her way that was nonetheless affective ending up in the back of the net.
The Spartans took advantage of the second penalty against Trine in the period to score their second goal with four minutes remaining in the period. Despite a late penalty on Aurora that saw the home team end the period with an advantage, the game went to the first intermission 2-1.
Sofia Vidmo caused a turnover in the defensive end during the third minute of the second period to start the scoring play for the Thunder's second goal. She passed it up to Lauren Hassler who muscled her way into the neutral zone before threading a pass through the defense to Sofia Koppa. The freshman skated into the forward zone before firing a shot around a defender and into the top of the net. Her leaping celebration came just into the fourth minute of the period.
Despite the goal serving as the only offense in the period, it did mark a change in the defensive end for the team. Annie Kindseth found her rhythm holding the opposition off the board through the rest of the game. She made 11 saves in the second and 14 more in the third to end the game with 38 and the win.
Neither team scored until the 16th minute of the final period. It was then that Hans blocked a shot in and came up with the puck afterwards skating the length of the ice before attempting to pass the puck through a defender in front of the net. After bouncing off the defender it ended up on the backside of the goal giving Mleko a free chance to score and give the team the 3-2 lead.
Bucking the trend of the game, the Thunder spent the last two minutes with near constant control of the puck, preventing the Spartans from pulling the goalie until the final 28 seconds of the game. The defense held the whole time to secure the victory.
Trine improves to 7-11-2 overall and 4-7-2 in Northern Collegiate Hockey Association (NCHA) play. They will look to secure a sweep against Aurora tomorrow, Saturday, February 1. That game is scheduled to start at 3 p.m.
