The Lindenwood Women's Hockey team (4-2-0, 1-1-0 AHA) picked up three points in the Atlantic Hockey America standings on Sunday afternoon with a 3-1 win over the Delaware Blue Hens. Michaela Paulinyova led the Lions with two points, while the Lindenwood defense allowed just 14 shots throughout the contest.
Lindenwood had two great scoring opportunities to begin the game, with Paige Cline having a breakaway chance early on and Tatiana Blichova finding open ice with no Delaware defender around. However, both chances were denied by the Delaware goaltender as the game remained scoreless. Later in the first period, the Lions were forced to kill off two Blue Hen power plays, similar to Saturday's contest, and the penalty kill unit delivered once again allowing just three shots across the two opportunities. Ebba Ridderstolpe stopped all five shots she faced in the opening period as the game headed to the second with the score knotted at zero.
In the second period, the Lions scored two power play goals in less than two minutes to grab a 2-0 lead. The first goal of the frame came from Tilde Simensen, who scored on a rebound in front of the net off a wraparound attempt from Paulinyova after Tiril Arntzen found Paulinyova along the right side boards. The second goal came after Blichova found Elina Zilliox at the center of the blue line, where Zilliox fired a slap shot toward the front of the net. The shot hit a Blue Hen defender and ricocheted toward Quinlyn Borner, who buried the puck into the back of the net to extend Lindenwood's lead to two. Delaware got a goal back at the 14:15 mark of the second period to cut the Lion lead to one heading into the final frame.
In the final period, Paulinyova scored her first goal of the season at the 3:58 mark. Rhaea Flint gathered the puck in the Lions' defensive zone and sent a pass up the right boards to Ellie Muscedere. Muscedere skated toward the neutral zone and found Paulinyova in the middle of the ice. Paulinyova made a few dekes to her left and right before sending a backhanded shot past the Blue Hen goaltender to put Lindenwood back up by two with just over 16 minutes remaining. The Lindenwood defense allowed just four shots on goal over the final 16 minutes to secure the victory and ended the first weekend of conference play with a split.
Ridderstolpe made 13 saves in the game in her second start of the season to improve to 2-0, while Krisztina Weiler blocked two shots to lead the Lions defensively. Offensively, Lindenwood outshot Delaware 26-14 and was led in shots by Silje Gundersen, who recorded four on goal.
The Lions will now return to Centene Community Ice Center for the first time this season when they take on Mercyhurst on Thursday, October 8 and Friday, October 9. Puck drop is set for 2 PMÂ on Thursday afternoon, followed by a 12 PMÂ puck drop on Friday.
