Article by Samantha Roering. Photo by Samantha Roering.
St. Cloud State women’s hockey played a home-and-home series with St. Thomas over the weekend, earning a 5-2 win at home on Friday before falling 2-1 in overtime on Saturday. The series saw standout performances from key players, including a historic win for Sanni Ahola, who became the program’s all-time leader in goaltender wins with 35. Sophomore forwards Sofianna Sundelin and Alice Sauriol continued their strong play, with Sundelin getting four points over the weekend and Sauriol getting three.
The Huskies came out strong on Friday afternoon, putting on an offensive show in a 5-2 win over the Tommies. Sundelin wasted no time in getting the scoring started, finding the back of the net a little over a minute into the game. In the second period, Sauriol deflected a shot from Sundelin to make it 2-0. St. Cloud extended the lead even further when former Tommie, Brieja Parent, tipped a shot past Dani Strom.
Late in the second period, St. Thomas responded. Chloe Boreen cut St. Cloud’s lead to 3-1 on the power play. However, 30 seconds later, Laura Zimmermann scored her fifth goal of the season to make it 4-1.
Sundelin added her second goal of the game early in the third, and although the Tommies scored again on the power play, this time from Ella Boerger, the Huskies finished with a 5-2 victory. Ahola made 13 saves to pick up her 35th career win, becoming the program’s all-time leader in goaltender wins.
The series finale on Saturday proved to be a hard-fought battle, with the Huskies dominating in shots, but unable to score until late in the third period. After a scoreless first 37 minutes, Ella Boerger opened the scoring, taking a 1-0 lead for the Tommies into the third.
The Huskies weren’t about to go down quietly, and Sundelin scored her third goal of the weekend to tie the game at 1-1. Neither team could score in the remaining seven minutes and the game went into overtime. However, less than a minute into overtime, Lauren Stenslie capitalized to give the Tommies a 2-1 win.
St Cloud’s Three Stars of the Weekend
★ Sofianna SundelinSundelin finished the weekend with four points, coming from three goals and one assist. She now leads the team in season goals with eight. She also was steady in the faceoff dot, leading the Huskies with 22 faceoff wins and a percentage of 43%
★★ Alice Sauriol
Sauriol was instrumental in the offensive efforts, with a three point performance on Friday. She recorded a career high 10 shots on goal on Saturday and remains the team leader in points and assists.
★★★ Sanni Ahola
Ahola made history with her 35th career win. She was solid in net, stopping 13 of 15 shots, playing a key role in the win.
Where Things Stand
It was a big weekend in the WCHA. Wisconsin remains atop the conference, although they were tested by Minnesota Duluth, who managed to take them to overtime and earn a point. Meanwhile, the battle for second place was in full swing as Minnesota and Ohio State faced off, splitting their series and remaining tied with 48 WCHA points. Minnesota State and Bemidji also split their weekend matchup. For St. Cloud, their four out of six possible points keeps them in fifth place, seven points behind
Minnesota Duluth and nine points ahead of Minnesota State. The Huskies are maintaining solid positioning as they continue their push to overtake Minnesota Duluth for home ice.
The Huskies entered the weekend ranked 11th in the USCHO poll and 10th in USA Hockey’s poll.
Up Next
The Huskies will hit the road this weekend, traveling to Mankato to face Minnesota State. The Mavericks split their series with Bemidji, winning 5-1 on Saturday after a 3-2 loss in game one. Minnesota State currently sits in 6th place in the WCHA standings.
When the teams last met in November, the Huskies dropped game one 4-1 but rebounded with a 3-2 overtime win in game two.
Puck drop for this weekend’s series is at 3 p.m. on Friday and 2 p.m. on Saturday in Mankato.
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