The Lindenwood and McKendree ACHA ice hockey squads skated to a 1-1 tie on Saturday, but the Bearcats edged the Lions 3-2 on Sunday in Women's Midwest College Hockey (WMCH) action.
McKendree was called for 10-minutes worth of penalties, but the only Lindenwood goal of the game came at even-strength early in the first.
Madison Teague and
Katelynn Weeks set up Marina Evert for her second goal of the season at the 1:19 mark to give the Lions a 1-0 advantage. Lindenwood held that lead through the rest of the period and into the second, but a tripping penalty gave the Bearcats one of seven power plays that they would have in the contest. They took advantage at the 7:16 mark to tie the game at 1-1.
From that point, both teams had opportunities to get the go-ahead goal, especially with the man-advantage as each squad was called for four penalties through the remainder of regulation. The Lions even had a chance to score on the power play in overtime as the final McKendree transgression carried over, but Lindenwood was denied, and the extra time ended with the game still knotted at one.
McKendree had a 47-12 advantage on shots in the contest, with the Lions being held to just five in the first, two in the second, and one in the third before getting four shots on goal in overtime.
Jordan Tung arguably was the most valuable player as she stopped 46 of the 47 shots she faced in 65-minutes of work in net for Lindenwood.
She was a standout again in the second game of the series on Sunday, but the Bearcats managed to get three pucks past her, and that was the difference in the one-goal loss.
McKendree jumped in front with two goals in the opening period, but the Lions came back with the next two. Hilary Pierce and
Loki Antonio combined to set up
Ardyn Hawryshko at 15:24 and it was 2-1. The Bearcats were called for hooking late in the first and Hawryshko capitalized at 1:32 of the second off a nice pass from Antonio for the tie.
It was short-lived, however, as McKendree netted what proved to be the game-winner on an even-strength play at 7:57. Neither team scored again for the rest of regulation.
The Bearcats outshot Lindenwood 37-18 and Tung stopped 34 of the 37 shots she faced in the hard-luck loss. For the weekend, she posted an excellent .952 save percentage.
With the tie and loss, the Lions dropped to 2-10-1 in the WMCH and to 5-13-4 overall. Lindenwood hits the road for a two-game set against Grand Valley State University February 10-11. The opening faceoff is scheduled for 3 p.m. Saturday afternoon and at 12 p.m. Sunday afternoon at Griff's Georgetown in Hudsonville, Michigan.
