Tommie defender Lilian Rue stops Blugold forward Courtney Wittig from scoring. (Carly Noble/TommieMedia)
After a scoreless first period, an unassisted goal by Tommie forward Estee Frantz sparked the No. 1 St. Thomas women’s hockey team to a 4-3 comeback victory over No. 8 UW-Eau Claire. With the win, the Tommies will advance to the NCAA Division III Frozen Four.
This was the teams’ first time playing each other in the 2018-2019 season. The Blugolds came into today’s match up with 12 wins from their last 13 games.
The Blugolds (21-5-2) out shot the Tommies (24-1-2) 13 to six in the first period.
Coach Tom Palkowski described his team’s play as “gritty.”
“Sometimes you got to fight through it, killing penalties and not giving it our best effort, but in the end we took advantage of an opportunity and sometimes you need that to win this time of year,” Palkowski said. 
Captain Anna Williams skates with the puck in her possession. The Tommies controlled the puck in the third period, scoring three of their four goals. (Carly Noble/TommieMedia)
After Frantz’s goal in the second period, the Tommies led for a short time until penalties became a recurring issue.
Blugold forward Elizabeth Bauer scored off a power play and defense Holly Turnball scored off another with two minutes remaining in the second period, giving the Blugolds a 2-1 lead going into the third.
“Obviously we had not a great start, but we kind of just came together, made a gritty effort and faced adversity,” Frantz said.
A minute into the third period Blugold forward Emily Bauer scored off a rebound, but the goal was reversed after a dispute that the net was off.
The Tommies rallied after forward Sarah Moy scored off an assist from Katie Winiecki and a minute later forward Anna Erickson scored, giving the Tommies a 3-2 lead.
The Blugolds pulled their goalie in hopes to score, but the Tommie defense prevailed and forward Rachel Werdin scored on an open goal.
A couple of seconds later Blugold forward Courtney Wittig scored, but the Tommies clinched the victory. 
Senior goalie Kenzie Torpy awaits action on her end of the ice. (Carly Noble/TommieMedia)
“Something about this group,” Palkowski said. “They just battle. They have fun everyday and obviously (Torpy) keeps the puck out of the net for us pretty regularly so it makes life a lot easier.”
Going into the final week of the season, the Tommies aren’t looking to change much given their success this season.
“Our mentality today was just to be 1-0 today and we are going to take that into next Friday and Saturday,” senior goalie Kenzie Torpy said.
The Tommies will play the No. 4 Hamline Pipers in the national semifinal game on March 15. The location is not yet announced.
Carly Noble can be reached at nobl1781@stthomas.edu.