Saints slip past Yellowjackets

Kiara De Kezel snapped a five-game goal drought with a second period goal on Tuesday against St. Scholastica.

Box Score

St. Scholastica 3, Yellowjackets 2

Tuesday night at Wessman Arena the Yellowjacket women's hockey team closed out the regular season portion of the 2013-14 schedule, as they played host to Twin Ports-rival St. Scholastica. It was the second meeting of the season between the two clubs. The Yellowjackets won the previous meeting, 2-0 at Mars-Lakeview Arena in Duluth on January 14. They hoped that Tuesday night's non-conference match-up would not only lead to a sweep of the season series, but also get the Yellowjackets back in the win column.

The Saints had other ideas.

St. Scholastica scored twice in the first period, and after the Yellowjackets tied it in the second, immediately regained the lead. That goal stood up and the Saints picked up the 3-2 victory.

Despite outshooting the Saints handily in the first period, the Yellowjackets found themselves trailing on the scoreboard when the period came to a close.

St. Scholastica opened the scoring when Nikki Logergren pushed a puck past Yellowjacket goaltender Shanley Peters (Gnadenthal, Manitoba/Garden Valley Collegiate) on the power play to make it 1-0 at 9:25 of the first. Late in the period the Yellowjackets had a power play opportunity of their own but were unable to tie the game. In the final minute of the period the Saints extended the lead, turning a Yellowjacket turnover into a 2-on-1 and Briana Stephens finished it off, beating Peters on the stick side with just 31 seconds left in the period to make it 2-0 after one.

The Yellowjackets came alive in the second and used two quick goals to tie the game.

At 9:04 of the period Kiara De Kezel (Deloraine, Manitoba/Deloraine) had the puck on the goal line to the left of the goal. She attempted to pass the puck out front and it glanced in off Saints goaltender Lindsey Hartfiel to make it a 2-1 game. For De Kezel it was her seventh goal of the season. Hailey Adair (Brooklyn Park, Minn./Champlin Park) and Sheryl Kaskiw (Souris, Manitoba/Souris Collegiate) assisted.

Just over a minute later the Yellowjackets tied the game. This time it was Dani Schultz (Morris, Minn./Morris Area) earning the goal, picking up a rebound in front of the Saints goal and putting home her 11th goal of the year at 10:27 and it was 2-2. Schultz's goal, which tied her for the team lead, was assisted by Karen Larson (Blumenort, Manitoba/Steinbach Regional Secondary) and Lynne Larson (Blumenort, Manitoba/).

The Saints had the quick answer, however, and scored the eventual game-winner at 11:11 of the second. Monika Waidacher found the loose puck and put it past Peters to push the score to 3-2.

In the third period the Yellowjackets outshot the Saints 12-5 and pressed hard in the closing minutes of the third period. With just over a minute left in the period the Yellowjackets pulled Peters for an extra attacker, but were unable to score the equalizer.

Peters, who earlier in the day was named WIAC Athlete of the Week for women's hockey, finished the game with 16 saves, while Hartfiel made 34 stops at the other end. Each team took three penalties for six minutes. On the power play the Saints went 1-for-3 while the Yellowjackets were 0-for-3.

With the loss, the Yellowjackets (14-5-6, 4-4-4 WIAC), who earlier in the month were riding an 11-game unbeaten streak, are now winless in their last five as they look to the post-season. They will enter the WIAC playoffs as the No. 3 seed and will play either UW-Stevens Point or UW-River Falls in the first round of the playoffs. UW-River Falls and UW-Eau Claire will meet on Saturday in the final game of the WIAC season, and when that game is completed the Yellowjackets will know who, and where, they will open the 2013-14 playoffs.

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