(ST NORBERT COMMUNICATIONS) – DE PERE – St. Norbert College had a solid offensive start to Northern Collegiate Hockey Association play with a 7-2 win over the University of Dubuque at Resch Olympic Pavilion.
The Green Knights (2-1, 1-0 NCHA), ranked No. 6 in the USCHO.com Division III Poll, jumped out to an early lead when Grace Wittkopf scored at 7:17 into the game for a 1-0 lead. The Spartans’ Malia Tetreault scored shorthanded at 12:46 to knot the score at 1-1, but St. Norbert would convert its power-play chance moments later on a Sydney Zurawik goal at 14:01. The Green Knights would carry a 3-1 lead into the first intermission after Hannah Grabianowski potted her first collegiate goal at 17:13.
Tristan Wicklund’s goal at 1:43 of the second period gave St. Norbert a 4-1 lead, but Dubuque’s Tetreault converted at 7:33 to bring the Spartans to within 4-2. That score would hold up until the waning moments of the second period, when Maddie Madden (pictured) puffed the next with just over four second remaining for a backbreaking 5-2 lead.
St. Norbert continued to pull away early in the third period on goals by Abby Pieper at 2:52 and Annalee Holzer at 4:37.
Madden, Wicklund and Zurawik all had one goal and two assists for three points. Wittkopf and Grabianowski both had one goal and one assist for two points, while Briar Charchenko had two assists for two points.
St. Norbert outshot Dubuque 43-15. Keira Markell made 13 saves for the Green Knights, while Emily Skanron made 36 stops for the Spartans.
St. Norbert was 1-for-3 on the power play, while Dubuque was 0-for-2.
MEN’S HOCKEY
St. Norbert 4, University of Dubuque 1
DUBUQUE, Iowa – St. Norbert College opened its Northern Collegiate Hockey Association account with a 4-1 win over University of Dubuque in the first of two games on the road at ImOn Arena.
The Green Knights (2-1, 1-0 NCHA) fought back from a 1-0 deficit in the first period and after tying later in the period, scored three goals in the third period without a Spartans reply.
With Dubuque scoring at 10:33 on a power play in the first period, Byron Hartley tied the game at 1-1 with an unassisted goal at 17:13. It wasn’t until the third period that the Green Knights gained a firm advantage, as Jack Seaverson scored the winner at 2:38 in the third period with assists from Braydon Beahm (pictured) and Jackson Rilei.
Beahm added St. Norbert’s third goal at 6:21 while Dubuque was on a power play, while T.J. Koufis put the game well out of reach at 17:55 off Curtis Hammond and Calvin Hanson assists to make it 4-1.
St. Norbert outshot Dubuque 32-25. Hunter Garvey made 24 stops for the Green Knights, while Dazza Mitchell made 29 saves for the Spartans.
St. Norbert was 0-for-3 on the power play. Dubuque went 1-for-3.
WOMEN’S BASKETBALL
University of Chicago 54, St. Norbert 49
DE PERE – St. Norbert College opened its new campaign with a tough 54-49 loss to University of Chicago in the first of two games in the annual Nicolet National Bank Tip-Off tournament at Mulva Family Fitness and Sports Center.
The Green Knights were held to a lowly shooting night, converting just 35 percent (21-for-60) of their shots from the floor. Although holding the Maroon to just 37.5 percent (18-for-48), St. Norbert trailed for most of the four quarters.
The Green Knights opened the game holding a 9-8 lead near the end of the first quarter before a 6-0 run from Chicago in the second quarter put the Green Knights in a small hole. Five points from Addyson Phipps closed the gap near halftime, while Oakley Witteck’s bucket with 4:33 gave Chicago just a one-point lead. An Avery Bierowski triple again cut the lead to just a point with 1:42 left in the first half before the Maroon took a 28-23 lead into the break.
Chicago led by as many as 14 in the third quarter, but thanks to a run led by Olivia Conway (pictured) and Bierowski, the Green Knights chipped away at the lead in the fourth quarter.
Taylor Thiry’s layup with 3:40 left made it 46-45 in favor of Chicago, but St. Norbert was to get no closer to the lead. It remained a one-possession game until late free throw makes from Chicago put the game out if reach.
Conway and Thiry both finished with a team-high 10 points each, with Thiry grabbing five rebounds and notching two steals. Witteck finished with nine points, while Rose Hahn had seven.
Annabelle Spots led the Maroon with 14 points.
MEN’S BASKETBALL
Eau Claire 80, St. Norbert 66
EAU CLAIRE – St. Norbert College couldn’t recover from a slow start in its season opener and suffered an 80-66 setback to UW-Eau Claire in a non-conference game at Sonnentag Event Center.
Eau Claire opened the game on a 7-0 run and eventually built a lead of 28-11 just over 11 minutes into the game. St. Norbert trailed 35-17 with 5:36 left in the first half before cutting the deficit down to 38-30 just before halftime after a 13-3 run. The Blugolds scored a hoop just before intermission to lead 40-30 at the break.
St. Norbert went on a 15-9 run in the first 4 1/2 minutes of the second half to cut it to 49-45. The margin stayed in the single digits while the Green Knights battled back to within 62-60 with 5:17, but two empty possessions for the visitor preceded a 12-2 Eau Claire run to seal the outcome.
The Green Knights shot 38.6 percent from the floor, making 22 of 57 field-goal attempts. Mason Freiburger (pictured) had 21 points and seven rebounds, while Will Stuckey and Connor Pytleski added 12 points each. Ryan Cox had 11 points and eight rebounds.
Eau Claire shot 46.6 percent (27-for-58) from the floor. Will Boser paced the Blugolds with 21 points.
Comments