University of St. Thomas Athletics
14-9-4
Bethel
15-10-3
Women's Hockey returns to NCAA playoffs
3/8/2015 12:00:00 AM | Women's Hockey
MENDOTA HEIGHTS, Minn. – After trailing 2-1 late in the second period, the St. Thomas women's hockey team came back to defeat Bethel 3-2 and capture its second straight MIAC Playoff title on Saturday afternoon at Saint Thomas Ice Arena. Freshman Heidi Winiecki scored the tying and go-ahead goals as No. 2-seed St. Thomas topped No. 4-seed Bethel, 3-2, in Saturday's MIAC Playoff championship game in Mendota Heights.
With the win, the Tommies improve to 14-9-4 on the season and earn the MIAC's automatic bid to the NCAA Division III Women's Hockey Tournament. UST will learn who it plays on Monday morning at 9:00 a.m., on the NCAA's Selection Show.
Bethel jumped out to a 1-0 lead early in the first period when Kathryn Larson scored on the power play at the 7:38 mark. Larson received assists from Erin Harper and Lauren Kolak to score her first of two goals on the afternoon.
The two teams played to a scoreless tie for the remainder of the opening frame, as the Tommies went to the locker room at the first intermission facing a one-goal deficit.
However, UST came back to tie the score midway through the second period. Rachel Friberg found the back of the net at 9:49 of the frame to even the count at one apiece. Nuala Flood recorded the assist on the goal, which was Friberg's ninth of the year.
The tie didn't last long, as Bethel answered just three minutes later to take a 2-1 lead. Larson took advantage of a power play chance again, this time scoring on assists from Natalie Simons and Erin Harper, but the Tommies would not go to another intermission trailing. Heidi Winiecki made sure of that when she scored with less than five minutes remaining in the second period thanks to assists from Courtney Umland and Megan Juricko.
The two teams remained tied through a majority of the third period until Winiecki struck again with just 6:37 remaining in the game. The goal came with an assist from Tara Baago and gave the Tommies the lead for good, as they went on to secure the 3-2 comeback victory.
The Toms improved to 8-3-3 in their last 14 games. UST is 20-7-2 on home ice the last two seasons.
Bethel (15-10-3) had scored 13 goals in its two previous MIAC playoff games, inclusing a 6-3 win at top-seed Gustavus one week earlier. The Royals scored power-play goal to take leads of 1-0 and 2-1 but the Tommies shut them out over the game's final 27:17 on the clock.
Taylor Neisen had 10 saves in the final period as UST held on.
