ANGOLA, Ind. -- A balanced offensive attack gave the Trine University women's hockey team the 3-2 victory over visiting Concordia University Wisconsin and secured the Thunder a spot in the Northern Collegiate Hockey Association (NCHA) Slaats Cup Playoffs.
The Falcons cracked the scoreboard first in just the second minute of the contest. Kristen Kennedy tallied the goal for Concordia Wisconsin, her ninth of the season.
Trine responded quickly coming away with their own goal and knotting the game at one just two minutes later. The play began with sophomore Sierra Westner (Saginaw, Mich.) collecting the rebound off of a teammate's shot from the point. She passed it along to classmate Emily Moore (London, Ontario) who passed it back to the point where Kailey Cameron (Nowthen, Minn.) was waiting to tally her fourth goal of the season.
The opposition was not finished scoring in the period and took back the lead in the 11th minute of the period. Maddy Millar scored the goal for the Falcons, her 13th of the season. Trine entered the first intermission trailing Concordia Wisconsin 2-1.
The score remained the same for much of the second stanza until in the 18th minute the Thunder tied the game at two. Sophomore Kirsten Vandenheuvel (Denfield, Ontario) came up with the puck in the defensive zone and fired a long pass into the neutral zone for classmate Eryn Isaacson (Fenton, Mich.) who in turn passed it forward. Sophomore forward Olivia Coyne (Pittsburgh, Pa.) collected the pass on the fly and streaked past the defense to tally her second goal of the season.
The goal was the lone of the period and the teams entered the second intermission all square at two goals apiece.
The Thunder took their first lead of the game in just the 28th second of the final period. After a shot was turned aside by the Falcons' goaltender a scrum of players developed in front of the net. A Concordia Wisconsin defender attempted to clear the puck away but Moore kept it in front of the net and Westner finished off the play by pushing the puck past the goaltender for her first goal of the season.
The Trine defense buckled down for the rest of the game, including over a minute of the opposition playing with an extra attacker, to come away with the 3-2 victory.
Junior Molly Scarborough (Ramsey, Minn.) got the win in net for the Thunder. Despite allowing the two goals in the first, she came up big when it mattered turning aside all 16 of the Falcons' shots in the third period to give her team the victory.
With the win, Trine improves to 9-11-2 overall and 7-8-2 in the NCHA. They guarantee themselves a spot in the six-team NCHA Slaats Cup Playoff field with the victory.
The Thunder will once again take on Concordia Wisconsin tomorrow, Feb. 16 at 2 p.m. with the result of the game determining their seeding in the playoffs. Trine can finish as high as fourth with a victory and help from other games in the conference.