The St. Thomas women’s hockey team couldn’t find its momentum in a 7-0 loss against No. 8 ranked University of Minnesota-Duluth Sunday at St. Thomas Ice Arena in Mendota Heights.
The Bulldogs (4-4, 4-4 WCHA) racked up four goals in the first period, with sophomore forward Clara Van Wieren scoring two on the Tommies (2-5-1, 2-5-1 WCHA).
“Today, what was challenging is that we couldn’t build momentum,” acting head coach Bethany Brausen said. “We had pockets here and there but it was tough to get some offense.”
The Tommies decided to switch things up to start the second period, replacing senior goaltender Alexa Dobchuk with first-year Saskia Maurer, who stopped 25 of 28 shots faced.
As the second came to a close, two more goals were put up by Minnesota-Duluth. The Bulldogs changed goalies in the middle of the period; senior starting goalie Emma Soderberg made five saves while sophomore Jojo Chobak came in and stopped two.
For St. Thomas, it was a game spent mostly in their own end as Minnesota-Duluth put up 43 shots to the Tommies seven.
“On the defensive side of the puck, we faced some challenges there but we talked about trying to match their speed and limiting their chances,” Brausen said.
St. Thomas settled the Bulldogs down in the third period, only allowing one goal, improving their defense against the speed of the offense.
“I’ve always believed that you learn so much more when you lose than when you win,” Brausen said. “When you win, it’s really easy to dismiss the thing you need to fine-tune.”
Sophomore forward Maija Almich said the team is going to use this game as an experience for the rest of the season.
“I think it’s just a great learning experience to test ourselves when things are tough, we know we are going to stick to our systems,” Almich said.
The Tommies will face the Rochester Institute of Technology in a non-conference game at 1 p.m. Friday in Rochester, New York.
Olivia Paradise can be reached at para4336@stthomas.edu