After falling to No. 2 seeded Maryville in the opening round on Thursday, women's ACHA ice hockey concluded its season with an 8-1 loss to No. 4 seed Midland in a Women's Midwest College Hockey (WMCH) conference consolation game Friday afternoon at the Metro Rec-Plex in O'Fallon, Illinois.
The Lions kept the contest close through the first period, only yielding one goal at the 16:53 mark, but the Warriors pulled away in the second by adding another four tallies to the ledger, all at even-strength.
It remained 5-0 Midland for over 15-minutes of game-time from late in the second until midway in the third, but a roughing call on Lindenwood led to a power play goal just 14-seconds later at 10:01. Less than a minute after that, the Lions were called for hooking at that led to a second man-advantage goal at 10:52 to make it 7-0 Warriors.
After an eighth goal came at 12:18, Midland was called for roughing and that gave Lindenwood a chance to get on the board. Just over a minute into the power play,
Devyn Doti set up
Saskia Fuchs for her second goal of the season to make it 8-1.
The Lions scored once on six man-advantage chances while the Warriors were successful twice on four power play opportunities. Midland outshot Lindenwood 46-22 and emergency goaltender
Alison Blaskovich stopped 38 of the 46 pucks she faced in goal.
Blaskovic, a sophomore who normally plays as a defenseman, donned the pads and goalie mask for the final seven games of the season over just two weeks after
Evi Allerding went down due to injury in early February. Blaskovic earned a victory against the University of Arizona on February 8 but faced three of the top five teams in the country in ACHA Division I down the stretch.
Head Coach
Andrew Miller praised his squad under the tough circumstances.
"It was unfortunate, but the team played really hard and had a great attitude," he said. "I'm very proud of the way they competed."
The Lions entered the WMCH tournament as the 13
th ranked team in ACHA Women's Division I. With the loss, Lindenwood finishes the season with a mark of 11-19-2 overall and 5-11-2 in conference play.
