Finlandia Folds to Women's Hockey

MEQUON, Wis. – The Falcons started the final weekend of the regular season with a sensational shutout victory over Finlandia on Friday night. The Falcons folded the Lions with a 5-0 victory to improve to 13-10-1 and 8-7-0 in the Northern Collegiate Hockey Association.

The Falcons started the scoring less than three minutes into the game when sophomore Natalie Mackrell (Stuttgart, Germany) deflected in a shot from senior Emily Reimche to start the scoring off a pass from sophomore Brooke Gibson (LaSalle, Ont.).

The birds struck again when freshman Makayla Spejcher (Green Bay, Wis.) stole the puck and put it away.

Brooke Gibson then started the second period scoring off an assist to Natalie Mackrell.

Senior Colleen Gilligan (Colbourne, Ont.) scored with a blast off a pass from Natalia Etter.

Brooke Gibson closed the scoring on the power play in the third period.

Sophomore Kami McCardle (Jackson, Wis.) was a brick wall once again for the Falcons with 11 saves in her fourth shutout victory of the season and her third against Finlandia.

The Falcons dominated the faceoff circle on Friday. Brooke Gibson won 18 and freshman Charlotte Toor (Hartland, Mich.) was a perfect eight-for-eight.

The Blue and White finished with 69 shots on Friday. Brooke Gibson, Emily Reimche and freshman Jillian Tabaka (Maplewood, Minn.) all had eight shots in the victory.

With today's results, the Falcons locked up the fifth seed in the NCHA Slaats Cup Playoffs and will travel to Lake Forest next weekend.

The birds close the regular season on Saturday against the Lions on senior day.