Women’s Hockey Prevails Over Aurora in Overtime

MEQUON, Wis. – In their third and final matchup against Aurora this week, the CUW women's hockey team picked up their first win of the season in what was a thrilling overtime victory to improve to 1-2-0 overall and 1-1-0 in conference action. 

The Falcons struck first at the 14:44 mark of the first period, as Ella Tuccitto scored her first collegiate goal to put the Falcons up 1-0 off passes from fellow freshman Ava Litkey (Kenosha, Wis.) and Naomi Black (Ottawa, Ont.). 

The Blue and White found the back of the net again with 7:29 remaining in the first on the power play, as freshman Mackaylan McGown (Inver Grove, Minn.) found junior Natalie Mackrell (Stuttgart, Germany). Mackrell then played the puck near toward the front of the net and found an open junior, Brooke Gibson (LaSalle, Ont.), near the goal, who quickly put a stick to the puck, which found its way past the Spartan goaltender to take the 2-0 lead heading into the first intermission. 

Neither team was able to score in the second period, despite Aurora recording 17 shots in comparison to the Falcons' nine.

With the Falcons maintaining their 2-0 lead in the second period, the Spartans came out of the second intermission determined to force overtime as Aurora scored their first goal of the night with 3:08 remaining to cut into CUW's lead.

Then, with around two minutes remaining in the third period, the Spartans decided to pull out their goaltender and bring on an extra skater. The move proved to work, as Aurora would find the back of the net to tie the game with just 62 seconds left in the contest.

Neither team could take the lead, and the game went into overtime. 

The Spartans took the first shot early during three-on-three action but could not capitalize on their opportunity. 

Later in overtime, junior Amanda Bauer (Waunakee, Wis.) stole the puck from a Spartan in CUW's attacking zone. With the puck at her stick and just the Aurora goaltender in front of her, Bauer ripped the shot past the Spartan goalie at the 2:49 mark to secure the 3-2 victory.

Falcons' senior goaltender Annalina Van Hercke (Castle Rock, Colo.) recorded a whopping 57 saves in the victory. 

Meanwhile, Amanda Bauer led the flock with five shots and Brooke Gibson won 15 out of 26 faceoffs. 

The overtime victory is the first for the women's hockey program since Feb. 19^th, 2022 when the Falcons came away with a 2-1 victory over Finlandia. 

The Falcons will return to action on Nov. 7^th when they host UW-Eau Claire, with the puck drop slated for 7:15 p.m.