DULUTH, Minn. – When the Yellowjacket women's hockey team takes the ice against the College of St. Scholastica, more often than not, the game is a tight one. Case in point, take the first meeting of the 2023-24 season. The two teams met Nov. 21 at Wessman Arena, with the Yellowjackets holding on for a 3-2 win.
Tuesday night the teams met for the second time in 23-24, this time on the Saints' home turf. And as expected, it was another close contest. And despite the Yellowjackets having a pair of players break long scoring droughts, it wasn't enough to gain the regular season sweep.
St. Scholastica broke a 3-3 tie midway through the third period and added an empty-net goal in the final minute to defeat the Yellowjackets 5-3 at Mars-Lakeview Arena.
The loss was the third in a row for the Yellowjackets (4-6-1, 1-1-1 WIAC).
In the opening minutes Tuesday the Yellowjackets jumped on the Saints, outshooting them early. The Yellowjackets also had an early power play, but were unable to convert. Later in the period the Saints were awarded a power play and they made it count, moving in front 1-0 on a goal by Lisa Laroche at 12:10.
It stayed that way until the Yellowjackets' got their second power play of the night early in the second period. The 'Jackets applied extensive pressure in the offensive zone when
Darbie Mattson (Atikokan, Ontario/Atikokan) got the puck to
Jada LeBlanc (Thunder Bay, Ontario/Westgate Collegiate and Vocational Institute), whose blast from the point was stopped. But
Gaby Andreacchi (Thunder Bay, Ontario/St. Patrick) stayed with the play and pounded home the rebound for her long-awaited first goal of the season to tie it 1-1 at 3:33 of the period.
Moments later the Yellowjackets went shorthanded, and again St. Scholastica made them pay. Abby Pohlkamp got a rebound and scored, putting the Saints back in front, 2-1 at 6:31. The Saints added another goal at 16:10 of the second, when Allie Bussey scored from the left circle, making it 3-1 after two periods.
The Yellowjackets didn't go away, however, and came out firing in the third period.
Before the period was less than a minute old, Andreacchi, whose second-period goal snapped a 14-game goal drought dating back to last season, added her second of the game to pull the 'Jackets to within one, 3-2.
Ashton Parnell (Cambridge, Minn./Cambridge-Isanti) and
Kailey Swerhun (Thunder Bay, Ontario/St. Ignatius) assisted.
Then, at 5:13, the Yellowjackets drew even for the second time in the game. This time it was Swerhun scoring her first goal of the season, getting assists from Parnell and Andreacchi, making it a 3-3 score. For Swerhun, the goal snapped a goal drought of 16 games.
After tying the game the Yellowjackets pressed for the go-ahead goal, but they were unable to move in front. Then, at 12:29 of the third Gabby Gamst scored, to put St. Scholastica in front 4-3. Allie Bussey then closed out the scoring, finding the empty net with 43.9 seconds to play, making the final score 5-3.
St. Scholastica outshot the Yellowjackets 31-24 in the game.
Molly Black (Devils Lake, N.D./Devils Lake) made her first start of the season in goal and took the loss, making 26 saves in the game.
The Saints also won the special teams battle. The Yellowjackets went 1-for-4 on the power play, while the Saints went 2-for-3.
Next up for the Yellowjackets will be another road game, as they travel to Moorhead, Minn. to take on Concordia College. The opening faceoff is set for 7 p.m. Friday at the Moorhead Sports Center.
