Falcons Ice the Lions in Overtime

HANCOCK, Mich. – The CUW women's hockey team closed the regular season on Saturday afternoon with an overtime victory. The Falcons secured a 2-1 victory to finish the regular season at 13-11-1 and 8-7-1.

The Lions struck first on their senior day with a power-play goal in the second period.

Senior Sarah Pearson (South Range, Wis.) scored on the power play in the final minute of the second period off assists from freshman Natalie Mackrell (Stuttgart, Germany) and junior Colleen Gilligan (Colborne, Ont.).

The captain ended the game 1:44 into the overtime session when senior Emily Reimche (Billings, Mont.) got past the defense and threw the puck into the net with assists to Natalie Mackrell and freshman Katie Rahilly (Newberry, Mich.).

Freshman Kami McCardle (Jackson, Wis.) stopped 23 shots on Saturday afternoon.

Shots were hard to come by on Saturday and the Falcons led the game with a 28-24 advantage. Emily Reimche led the flock with five shots.

Reimche also led the game with 16 faceoff victories. CUW won 40 faceoffs during the afternoon. Freshman Brooke Gibson (LaSalle, Ont.) won 13 and senior Baileigh Johnson (Neillsville, Wis.) finished with 11 victories.

The CUW defense froze five Finlandia power plays on Saturday afternoon.

 The Falcons will officially finish the season with a .500 or higher record for the third time in four years. The Blue and White also finish NCHA play with a .500 or better record for the fourth time in the last five years.

The Falcons will travel south to face the Spartans of Aurora in the NCHA Slaats Cup Quarterfinals on Friday and Saturday.