Augsburg and St. Norbert battled in a top five showdown over the weekend and came away the two teams split the series featuring nationally ranked teams.
After losing on Friday night, the fourth-ranked Auggies bounced back on Saturday with a 2-1 win, scoring both goals off the power play, including the game-winner by Dylan Schneider less than two minutes into the third period. Augsburg held on from there to beat the fifth-ranked Green Knights for the fourth time in the last five meetings. Schneider also tallied an assist in the win.
Samuel Vyletelka came through with 35 saves for his seventh win of the year as Augsburg closed out its first half of the season with a 7-3-1 mark. St. Norbert is now 8-3-1. The Green Knights got 17 saves from Colby Entz. Carter Hottman and Adam Stacho both scored.
Friday’s game belonged to St. Norbert, which scored twice in the first period and led 4-2 after two periods of action.
Five different players scored goals for the Green Knights, including Michael McChesney, who came through with his ninth goal of the season. Liam Fraser also tallied his ninth goal of the year. Curtis Hammond scored his first goal of the season. Johnny Roberts started in goal and made 32 saves.
Mason Palmer, Austin Dollimer and Michael Redmond all scored for the Auggies.
Pointers keep unbeaten streak rolling
UW-Stevens Point is unbeaten in its last 11 games after sweeping UW-Eau Claire over the weekend.
The Pointers, winners of six consecutive games, topped the Blugolds 3-2 in overtime on Saturday.
Dawson Sciarrino scored the game winner for UW-Stevens Point (8-1-3, 6-0-0). It’s the second time in the last three games he’s done that in OT. The Pointers move up four spots to No. 11 in the DCU/USCHO NCAA Division III men’s poll this week. The Blugolds fell out of the poll. They came in ranked 14th.
Quinn Green gave UW-Eau Claire a 1-0 lead just over three minutes into the second period and Cody Moline tied the game 10 minutes later. Conor Witherspoon put UW-Stevens Point up 2-1 before Leo Baccallao tied the game at 2-2 with a little less than two minutes to play in regulation.
Alex Proctor made 32 saves for the Pointers. Max Gutjahr tallied 26 saves for the Blugolds (7-5-0, 3-3-0).
UW-Stevens Point dominated Friday’s game thanks to a hat trick by Witherspoon. He scored all three of his goals in the second period. The Pointers trailed 1-0 after one period before Witherspoon got on a roll. Fletcher Anderson and Evan Junker both tallied a goal and an assist.
St. Olaf 2, Bethel 1
The Oles battled Bethel in an outdoor game Saturday night and prevailed 2-1 in overtime thanks to a game-winning goal by Troy Bowditch. Bowditch scored off an assist from Ashton Altmann. It was the second win of the year for the Oles over the Royals. St. Olaf is 2-1 in OT games this season and bounced back after falling 5-2 to MSOE on Friday night. The Oles are unbeaten at 3-0 in games following a loss.
Lukas Haugen made 34 saves, a season-best total, and now has five wins. Austin Ryman made 34 saves as well, six of those coming in the final nine minutes of regulation.
Sam White scored Bethel’s lone goal to tie the game at 1-1 in the third. That goal came less than a minute after Jonathan Panisa gave the Oles a 1-0 lead.
St. Olaf is 9-3-1 on the year. Bethel is 8-4-1.
Raiders top Oles
It had been more than 20 years since MSOE last played St. Olaf, and the wait was worth it for the Raiders, who came away with a 5-2 win on Friday. It’s the first time MSOE has ever beaten St. Olaf in three games between the two teams.
MSOE overcame a 2-1 deficit to pick up the win and improve to 8-4 on the season.
Christian Sabin tied the game just over five minutes into the second period at 2-2 and Cole Beilke gave the Raiders a 3-2 lead. Gramm McCormack closed out the scoring for the Raiders. Sabin led the Raider offense with two goals. Nick Stofcheck tallied 16 saves.
Eight goals more than enough for Gusties
Gustavus closed out its first half of the season with its best offensive performance in more than a decade.
The Gusties picked up their first win of the year with an 8-2 win over Concordia (Wisconsin) on Saturday. The eight goals were the most for the Gusties since Jan. 24, 2009. They ended their five-game losing streak in the process and improved to 1-8-2 on the year.
Nick Mohs-Messerli scored twice for the Gusties in the victory. Jac Triemert tallied a goal and an assist. Gustavus held a commanding 51-20 advantage in shots.
Cardinals on a roll
Saint Mary’s couldn’t have asked for a better finish to its first half of the season, winning its fourth consecutive game on Saturday with a 5-3 win over MSOE.
Thomas Magnavite scored a late goal to help the Cardinals avoid overtime. Trevor Schroeder added an empty-net goal to finish out the scoring as the Cardinals improved to 5-6-1 on the season.
Colin Tushie scored twice for the Cardinals, who have momentum on their side after a tough start to the year. Callahan Nauss also scored a goal and Mat Sanker made 22 saves, including 12 in the first period.
Good weekend for the Vikings
It was a special weekend for Zach Lodes, who played a pivotal role in helping the Vikings come away with a much-needed win.
Lodes scored five goals, tying a school record, in a 6-3 win over Gustavus Friday.
The Vikings then closed out the weekend with a 2-2 tie against Saint John’s on Saturday.
On Friday, after two consecutive shutout losses, Lawrence’s offense came to life thanks to Lodes, who scored three times in the second period and added two more goals in the third. His performance tied a mark first set by Mike Vernon on Nov. 21, 1998.
Against the Johnnies, Kyle Gierman scored the game-tying goal to force overtime. Neither team scored in the extra session. Jayden Jense scored the first goal of the game for Lawrence. It was his third of the season. Owen Carlson made 30 saves. The Vikings improved to 2-8-1.
Falcons get much-needed win
UW-River Falls snapped a six-game losing streak and picked up its first WIAC win of the year Friday with a 1-0 win over UW-Stout.
Dylan Smith scored the lone goal of the game in the second period. It was his third of the season. Dysen Skinner made 13 saves and won his fourth game of the year. It’s his third shutout win of the season.
River Falls wasn’t as fortunate Saturday as the Blue Devils bounced back with a 6-3 win. Markis Brimanis tallied his first career hat trick at the college level to pave the way for UW-Stout, which improved to 9-4-0 overall and 3-3 in the WIAC. The ninth win tops last season’s win total.
Tyler Masternak made 25 saves. The Falcons fell to 4-8 overall and 1-5 in the conference.
