ADRIAN, Mich. – The Trine University women's hockey team gave nationally-ranked Adrian College all they could take, scoring first and taking the game to overtime, but came up just short in the final minute of play to lose 2-1.
Neither team found the back of the net in the first period as the star of the game emerged for the Thunder in the form of junior goalie Molly Scarborough (Ramsey, Minn.) who turned aside all 11 of the opposition's shots in the stanza. The teams would enter the first intermission tied at zero.
Scarborough improved on her first-period performance in the second coming up with 21 saves and holding the Bulldogs scoreless again.
In the 16th minute, the Thunder's Kirsten Vandenheuvel (Denfield, Ontario) broke the deadlock. The unassisted, power-play goal was her third of the season and gave the team the 1-0 lead which they would take into the second intermission.
Adrian tied the game in the second minute of the final period with a power-play goal of their own and then both defenses settled in to hold each other scoreless through the end of regulation.
The Bulldogs came out determined to avoid the upset in the overtime period tallying all six shots of the stanza. But the Thunder defense appeared to be up to the task as they held them off the board until the final thirty seconds of the contest when Adrian scored the game-winner.
Trine falls to 6-6-1 overall following the loss. They will return to the ice and Northern Collegiate Hockey Association (NCHA) competition when they host the College of St. Scholastica on Friday, Jan. 18. The game will benefit the Vera Bradley Foundation for breast cancer research as both team's look to "Pink the Rink." Puck drop is scheduled for 4 p.m.