Scott Spencer earned his first victory as a NCAA collegiate head coach on Saturday afternoon as the Lindenwood women's hockey team defeated St. Cloud State by a 5-3 margin.
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Lindenwood jumped out to a 4-1 lead after two periods and then held off a late charge by St. Cloud State. The big goal early in the contest was a power-play goal by
Katie Erickson less than two minutes before the end of the first period. That goal broke a 1-1 tie and gave Lindenwood momentum into the second period.
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Lindenwood scored twice in the second period and appeared to have a safe lead going into the final period. The Huskies didn't go away though, scoring twice to pull within one.
Britannia Gillanders scored her first collegiate goal though with an empty-net score at the 19:05 mark to seal the victory.
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Other goals for Lindenwood came from
Shara Jasper,
Jordyn Constance, and
Leah Elledge. Jasper and Erickson both had an assist to go along with a goal, and
Alyssa West had two goals. Other assists came from
Sarah Bobrowski,
Emily Gunderson,
Tae Otte, and
Holly Dietzler.
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Elledge scored the game-winning goal, and it was her first career goal. Other milestones included the first collegiate points for Gillanders, Bobrowski, Gunderson, and Otte. West also played in her 100th career game.
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Nicole Hensley made 25 saves in the game to earn the win in net.
Brooke Peden had a team-high four blocks, one more than
Katie Nokelby.
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The victory over St. Cloud State was the first win in program history over a members of the Western Collegiate Hockey Association (WCHA). Lindenwood is now 1-3-0 on the season. It plays Minnesota Duluth next on Oct. 25 and Oct. 26.