St. Scholastica downs Women's Hockey in NCHA play

DULUTH, Minn. – A pair of first-period goals proved to be the difference for St. Scholastica as they defeated the Concordia University Wisconsin Women's Hockey team, 3-1, Friday night. The loss makes any chance for CUW to reach the NCHA Playoffs slim, although the Falcons haven't officially been eliminated.

THE BASICS
- Final Score: St. Scholastica 3, Concordia Wisconsin 1
- Location: Mars Lakeview Arena – Duluth, Minnesota
- Records: St. Scholastica 11-8-2, 8-5-2 NCHA; Concordia Wisconsin 9-12-2, 5-10-2 NCHA

HOW IT HAPPENED
- The difference in the game was the two first-period scores by the host Saints. Mac Johnson struck 7:23 into play, while Giorgia Battisti scored 2:58 later for a 2-0 lead.

- The Falcons would cut the Saints lead to 2-1 just 41 seconds into the third period as senior Veronika Metanova (Palatine, Ill.) scored her 35th career goal. Junior Lexi Holman (Sauk Rapids, Minn.) picked up an assist on the Metanova score.

- The 2-1 score would remain until an empty-net goal from St. Scholastica with 33 seconds on left on the clock. Denisa Lalikova tallied the empty-netter, coming off assists from Kennedy Houge and Paige Forsman. The empty-net score was also scored on the power play, the lone power play tally for either team.

- Sophomore Christina Pattengale (Portage, Mich.) finished the game with 27 saves, including going a perfect 21-for-21 over the final two periods, with the only Saints goal during that span being the empty-netter.

- Lexi Thomeczek made 24 saves to move her record to 7-1-0 for the Saints this season.

- The Falcons spent much more time in the box on Friday, being whistled seven times for 14 minutes. St. Scholastica committed just two infractions for a total of four penalty minutes.

BEYOND THE BOX SCORE
- CUW now need a win tomorrow and a lot of help to qualify as the fourth team for the NCHA Playoffs. The Falcons are tied with Marian for the final spot but have just one league game left compared to four for the Sabres, who also own a tiebreaker, if needed.

- Metanova, who became the career points leader last weekend, moved to within one goal of tying for that record. She is also tied for first on the career assists leaderboard. She now has 88 career points, 35 goals, and 53 assists.

UP NEXT
- These two will do battle again tomorrow evening with puck drop set for 5 p.m.