The St. Thomas women’s hockey team shot 57 pucks at Franklin Pierce’s net, with sophomore defender Maddy Clough’s shot breaking through for the only St. Thomas goal, but could not beat the Ravens in overtime, losing 2-1 Saturday at St. Thomas Ice Arena.
The Tommies (1-3-0, 0-2-0 WCHA) defeated the Ravens (1-2-0, 0-0 NEWHA) 3-0 Friday, but the Ravens’ goaltender kept the Tommies offense from winning.
“I give full credit to their goaltender because she played remarkably well,” coach Joel Johnson said. “At the same time, I want to hold our players accountable.”
The first period remained scoreless as the Tommies sent 28 shots on goal, battling offensively with the Ravens.
Two minutes into the second period, the Ravens put up the first score. Clough quickly answered three minutes later with a tap-in goal assisted by graduate student forward Anna Promersberger.
“We had so many shots on net this game that I thought the goalie played really well,” Clough said. “It just felt good to finally get one past her.”
The Tommies and Ravens continued battling the third period, pushing the game into overtime. Both offenses played strong in the 3-on-3 sudden death overtime, but the Ravens’ first-year forward Mikayla Kelley scored on the Tommies.
“In certain parts of the game, we had to find a way to score a goal, and we didn’t,” Johnson said.
The Tommies set a record for shots on goal as a Division I team in their second season, but Johnson said the focus should be on winning instead.
“I don’t care about how many shots we got; I care about the score at the end,” Johnson said. “That’s what I want our players to think about.”
Johnson thought the Tommies played tough on the ice.
“Really proud of our team. That’s the way we want to play but as soon as we settle for losing, we’re not going the direction we want to go,” Johnson said.
The Ravens put pressure on the Tommies, and Clough said the Tommies played strong despite the tough goaltending.
“How we played is probably one of our best games in the program this year and last year, so the offensive zone time and possession and stuff, just keep that up,” Clough said.
The Tommies will face Minnesota State-Mankato in Mankato Thursday, Oct. 20 at 6 p.m. Then, the Tommies take on the Mavericks at home Friday, Oct. 21 at 6 p.m.
“As we go play Minnesota State at Mankato, I don’t know if we’ll have the puck as much,” Johnson said. “We get the defensive effort we got today, I’ll be excited to see where we end up.”
Natalie Hoepner can be reached at hoep8497@stthomas.edu.