Women's Hockey Zaps the Thunder

MEQUON, Wis. – The Concordia Wisconsin women's hockey team brought out the brooms on Saturday evening after the weekend sweep of Trine. The Falcons swept away the Thunder in the first Northern Collegiate Hockey Association series of the year with a 4-3 victory on Saturday night. Concordia Wisconsin improves to 3-1-0 on the young season and stays atop the NCHA standings at 2-0-0.

The Falcons had the first opportunity of the evening with a power play early in the first period with a tripping call but could not capitalize.

Sophomore Mackaylan McGown (Inver Grove Heights, Minn.) scored the first goal of the night tapping in a rebound on a wraparound opportunity from sophomore Naomi Black (Ottawa, Ontario) with sophomore Chanler Taylor (Bloomington, Ill.) tacking on the secondary assist with the original shot on goal.

The Concordia defense stood tall late in the first period after the Falcons killed off a four-on-three power play for the Thunder.

The Thunder scored in the first minute of the second period off a turnover in the Concordia defensive zone.

Three minutes later, senior Amanda Bauer (Waunakee, Wis.) lit the lamp with a shot from the far circle with Naomi Black and Mackaylan McGown adding the assists as they battled near the Trine net.

The Falcons added to the lead seconds into the power play at the 7:17 mark of the second period after Mackaylan McGown won the faceoff and found Amanda Bauer who passed it to senior Brooke Gibson (LaSalle, Ontario) and Gibson blasted the puck into the top shelf for a power play goal.

The Thunder tried to rumble back with a power-play opportunity of their own but the Falcons had a gutsy penalty kill with blocked shots in abundance.

Trine capitalized off an unfortunate bounce for the Birds and hit the puck into a wide-open net at the 14:14 mark of the period.

In the second minute of the third period, sophomore Brenna-Grace Dittmer (Chatham-Kent, Ontario) sent the puck into the upper left corner of the net off assists to Brooke Gibson and senior Natalie Mackrell (Florissant, Colo.).

The Thunder struck back four minutes later with a goal in front of the Concordia net.

Trine threatened late, but sophomore Carolyn Bourgeault (Buffalo, N.Y.) notched some clutch saves.

A hooking call for Trine in the final minute allowed the Falcons to play a game of keep away and ran out the clock to secure the weekend sweep.

This is the first three-game stretch with four or more goals since March 2021.

The Concordia defense did not allow a power-play goal on four opportunities.

Carolyn Bourgeault had 17 saves in her first start of the season.

Concordia held a 55-20 advantage in shots on Saturday and was led by junior Makayla Spejcher (Green Bay, Wis.) and Brooke Gibson with eight.

Mackaylan McGown stuffed the stat sheet on Saturday with one goal, two assists and 25 faceoff victories on 34 opportunities.

The Falcons look to build upon the winning streak on Tuesday night against Wisconsin-Stevens Point.