STEVENS POINT, Wis. — Forward Courtney Umland’s two goals led the No. 6-ranked St. Thomas women’s hockey team to a 5-0 NCAA D-III playoff victory over No. 5 Wis.-Stevens Point Friday night at Ice Hawks Arena.
The Tommies (20-5-3) dominated both sides of the puck, allowing the Pointers (19-6-4) just a few opportunities to get to the net while St. Thomas worked the Stevens Point defenders and earned scoring chances from the slot and the top of the point. The Pointers had beaten the Tommies twice this season.
St. Thomas advances to the Frozen Four for the first time in school history. The Tommies will face No. 1-ranked Plattsburgh State on Friday night.
Umland said the most important thing in the game was getting on the board early.
“We need to get the first one just to get that momentum going,” Umland said. “From last game, when we’re up by two in the first period, we had so much energy and that was essential for us this game, too.”
The Tommies did just that, and with a Pointer in the box about 13 minutes into the game, Umland received a pass from forward Christina Rozeske and unleashed a deadly slap shot that went top shelf and buzzed over goaltender Janna Beilke-Skoug’s glove.
After the first intermission, the momentum swung in the Tommies’ favor after St. Thomas forwards Rachel Friberg and Hannah Burns stole the puck right beside the net from a Pointer defender. Friberg fed the puck to forward Paige Baldwin for the backhand tap in, giving the Tommies a 2-0 lead
Earlier this season, the Tommies held a 2-0 lead over the Pointers, but eventually lost the game 3-2. Coach Tom Palkowski said he wasn’t afraid to remind his team of that loss.
“I didn’t feel it was going to happen, but it was certainly brought up on the bench,” Palkowski said. “We’ve been up two-nothing before; let’s stick to our guns and keep moving.”
Goalie Alise Reidel stopped all 30 shots and recorded her second straight postseason shutout.
There were opportunities throughout the second period where the Pointers could’ve turned things around, including a tripping penalty by Tommie forward Karina Marette, but two quick penalties from the Pointer squad squandered those chances.
Marette made up for her penalty 11 minutes into the second period. When she came out of the box, the Tommies had a five-on-three advantage and Palkowski called a time out. After the break, Marette received a backhand pass from defender Mary Grace Flesher in the low slot and gave a quick wrister to put it past Beilke-Skoug.
Palkowski said his Tommies had a huge opportunity to pull ahead during the break.
“I just said this is a crucial time of the game. If we can get the next one, go up three, it takes a lot of pressure off us, and thankfully we did good and got that third one,” Palkowski said.
St. Thomas added two more goals in the third period after an empty-netter by Umland and a rebound goal by defender Nuala Flood.
Riedel credited her teammates.
“I just have a good team in front of me,” Riedel said. “There is a lot of times they take good penalties or just clear out pucks that I don’t know I have, so it’s really the team in front.”
Palkowski said his team can be dominant from here on out in the tournament.
“We’re playing awfully well right now,” Palkowski said. “We know the competition out there is going to be tough, but all we can control is how we play, and if we play our game, we’ll see what we can do.”
Jesse Krull can be reached at krul7386@stthomas.edu.