Gustavus women’s hockey to play in NCAA Division III National Championship on Saturday

Gustavus Adolphus College Sports Information Department

MIDDLEBURY, Vermont — The Gustavus Adolphus College women’s hockey team defeated Plattsburgh State 5-1 in a NCAA Division III semifinal game on Friday afternoon in Middlebury, Vermont, advancing to the national championship game tomorrow night. The Golden Gusties, who will play the winner of tonight’s game between Elmira and Middlebury, now hold an overall record of 25-3-2 on the season. The win marks a historic moment for the Gustavus women’s hockey program, which has reached the Frozen Four nine times but never reached the NCAA Division III championship game until now.

Plattsburgh State, the defending champions from the last pre-COVID-19 national tournament in 2019, scored 1:21 into the game to go up 1-0. The Gusties responded 46 seconds later with a goal from Molly McHugh (Jr., Minnetonka, Minn.) to tie the game at 1-1. From there, the Gusties didn’t look back, adding a goal from Hailey Holland (Jr., Aberdeen, S.D) with 6:35 left in the first period to take a 2-1 lead into the first intermission. 

Gustavus added a power play goal from Tina Press (Sr., Cottage Grove, Minn.) at 17:04 of the second period to stretch the lead to 3-1 before Plattsburgh had a would-be goal waved off for high-sticking at 16:46. The Gusties notched a short-handed goal from Brooke Power (So., Lakeville, Minn.) with 12:38 left in the second to increase the lead to 4-1, and Hannah Gray (Fy., Stillwater, Minn.) closed the scoring with 4:49 remaining in the contest to push the final score to 5-1 in favor of the Gusties. 

The NCAA Division III championship game takes place on Saturday, March 19 at 7 p.m. Eastern/6 p.m. Central and will be live-streamed online at the championship’s website: https://athletics.middlebury.edu/gameday/whockey-vs-gustavus-adolphus-vs-plattsburgh-st-/whockey/183/.