Evans makes 52 saves, Women's Hockey ties St. Scholastica

DULUTH, Minn. – Kaitlyn Evans finished with a career-high 52 saves and Concordia University Wisconsin tallied a goal midway through the third period to earn a 4-4 tie with The College of St. Scholastica during the Northern Collegiate Hockey Association opener for both teams on Friday night.

Evans (sophomore, Fairbanks, Alaska) was outstanding between the pipes recording double-figure saves in all three regulation periods and seven in the overtime.

Her 52 saves is tied for the seventh most single game stops in NCHA history. The Saints 56 shots on goal is tied for the 13th most in an NCHA contest.

CUW (0-2-1, 0-0-1 NCHA) fell behind 3-1 less than two minutes into the second period after CSS scored its second consecutive power play goal. The Falcons answered with two goals of their own, one a power-play success, before both teams traded goals in the third period.

"I thought we responded well after St. Scholastica scored so quickly," head coach Jim Ingman said. "After the first 10 minutes of the game I thought we played toe to toe with them, especially with us being so young.

"Katilyn played phenomenally tonight," Ingman said. "She made a lot of difficult saves and controlled the rebounds very well."

CSS (0-0-1, 0-0-1 NCHA) converted three of six power-play opportunities, while CUW finished the game two of six on power-play chances.

The Saints tallied a goal just 24 seconds in the game after Gina Dodge found the back of the net.

Just over two minutes later Falcon freshman Michelle Musil (Maple Grove, Minn.) scored her first career goal, a power-play success, on a passing combination from freshman Chelsea Regan (Oakdale, Minn.) and sophomore Erin Grant (Allen Park, Mich.).

CSS capitalized on CUW penalties scoring back-to-back power-play goals the break a tie and take a 3-1 lead in the second period.

Sophomore Emily Heckendorf (Merrill, Wis.) answered with an even-strength goal, assisted by sophomore Samantha Reiter (Stillwater, Minn.), to cut the Falcons deficit to 3-2. Senior Sara Cole (Plymouth, Minn.) marked a goal of her own, a power-play tally, which was assisted by Heckendorf and junior Maxine Blohowiak (Green Bay, Wis.) to tie the game at 3-3.

CSS added its final power-play goal of the net in the third period before CUW's Grant scored the game-tying goal midway through the third period. Freshman Jenna Brown (Roseville, Minn.) assisted on the score.

CUW and CSS conclude their two-game NCHA series on Saturday at 2 p.m.