Women's ACHA ice hockey wrapped up its regular season with a pair of 5-2 losses in Women's Midwest College Hockey (WMCH) action February 16-17. Lindenwood fell to Maryville University on Senior Night at the Centene Community Ice Center in Maryland Heights, Missouri, then dropped the contest against McKendree Saturday evening at the Metro Rec-Plex in O'Fallon, Illinois.
After celebrating senior defenseman
Jessica Wither, the Lions started their game against the Saints well, taking a 1-0 lead at the 7:14 mark of the opening period when Hilary Pearce and
Loki Antonio set up
Kailey Keller for her first goal of the season. Maryville tied the contest with 3:23 remaining, but Lindenwood regained the lead when
Ardyn Hawryshko sounded the horn at the 17:43 mark, assisted by Antonio and Pearce.
The Lions carried a 2-1 advantage into the second, but the Saints turned the tide from there. After a game-tying goal at even strength at 3:54, they added two power play goals in a span of 66-seconds on separate hooking and holding calls on Lindenwood. The Saints added another even-strength effort in the third for the final margin.
Maryville outshot the Lions 44-36.
Evi Allerding stopped 28 of the 32 shots she faced in 33:02 of ice time in a losing effort while
Jordan Tung stopped 11 of 12 in 26:58 of relief.
Just like the first game of the weekend, Lindenwood jumped in front of the Bearcats on Saturday, but could not hold the lead.
Katelynn Weeks put the Lions on the board at 7:22 in the opening frame with help from Marina Evert and
Ava Bilton, then Evert made it 2-0 in favor of Lindenwood when she hit the back of the net on a play set up by Sarah Nicholl and
Lauren Miller at 8:43, but penalties once again switched momentum and ultimately the outcome.
McKendree cut the deficit in half playing five-on-five at the 12:30 mark, then roughing and cross-checking calls on the Lions late in the first led to back-to-back power play goals in the final three minutes of the period to give the Bearcats a 3-2 advantage. After a scoreless second, they added a fourth goal on a penalty shot at 13:37 of the third and their final score came at even strength with 5:25 left in regulation.
McKendree outshot Lindenwood 44-11 and Tung stopped 39 of the 44 pucks she faced in a losing effort. In addition to the penalty shot, the Lions gave up another two goals on four power plays while failing to score on their only man-advantage chance.
With the two losses, Lindenwood dropped to 2-12-1 in the WMCH and to 7-15-4 overall. The WMCH Conference Tournament is up next for the Lions, hosted by Liberty University February 22-25. The opening round starts Thursday at the LaHaye Ice Center in Lynchburg, Virginia.
