The Lindenwood women's ACHA hockey team fell to the Lake Superior State Lakers 8-1 on Friday night at Centene Community Ice Center in Maryland Heights, Missouri. Prior to Friday's contest, the Lions hosted their senior night festivities. Honored were seniors
Ardyn Hawryshko,
Saskia Fuchs, and
Madison Teague.
The first period began with promise for the Lions as they went to the power play 50 seconds into frame, but a Lindenwood turnover allowed LSSU to score a short handed goal nine seconds later and take a 1-0 lead. The Lakers added another goal at 7:17 to make it 2-0, but
Devyn Doti and the Lions answered with a goal of their own at 11:17. While at even strength,
Ava Bilton and Kenzie Cameron set up Doti for her third goal of the season. For Bilton and Cameron, it was their 10th and fourth assists respectively. The Lions had cut the deficit in half, but the Lakers responded with their third goal of the game less than a minute later. Lindenwood outshot LSSU 13-5 in the first period but found themselves trailing 3-1 heading into the dressing room.
The second period saw the Lakers put seven shots on net and score three goals. The first came at 11:25, the second at 14:31, and the third at 19:41 and they were all at even strength. The Lions fired eight pucks on net of their own, but they were unable to put any of them past the Lakers netminder. Lindenwood trailed LSSU 6-1 going into the third period.
The third period saw the Lakers score their seventh goal of the game at the 1:34 mark and add a power play goal at 9:24 to make it 8-1. The Lions attempted to mount a third period comeback by maintaining puck possession and peppering the Lakers goalie with pucks. The Lions were successful for two-thirds of that plan, dominating in possession time and tallying 20 shots on goal in the final period of play, but still they were unable to crack the Lakers goaltender. The score was 8-1 LSSU when the final horn sounded.
Friday's defeat was a tough one to swallow the Lions. Lindenwood outshot LSSU in the game 41-17, but Lions goaltender,
Alison Blaskovich, allowed eight goals on those 17 shots and was handed the loss. Saturday's defeat drops the Lions record to 10-14-2 and 9-8 on home ice.
The Lions return to action tomorrow night when they face off against the Arizona Wildcats in their final regular season home game of the season. Puckdrop is scheduled for 9:10 p.m. from Centene Community Ice Center.
