DUBUQUE, Iowa – The University of Dubuque women's hockey team put together a commanding performance on Saturday to defeat the Northland College Lumberjills by a 9-2 score at ImOn Arena. The Spartans set a new school record for points in a game with the victory.
UD opened the scoring at 8:31 in the first period when Zoe Cupples found the back of the net, assisted by Madilynn Schiile. Ava Dedrick extended the lead at 15:54 with a goal assisted by Bree Hallson and Payton Kletke, giving Dubuque a 2-0 advantage heading into the second period.
The Spartans continued to dominate in the second period, with Malia Tetreault scoring at 9:09 off assists from Lauren Jeffery and Samantha Eldridge to make it 3-0. Northland responded quickly, scoring their first goal at 9:26. The Spartans immediately regained control, with Dedrick netting her second goal of the game at 11:24, assisted by Hallson, and Gracie Hall seconds later adding another goal at 11:40 with an assist from Jeffery. Aleah Giddings capped off the second-period scoring with an unassisted goal at 13:06, pushing UD's lead to 6-1.
The Spartans didn't let up in the third period. Hall struck again at 1:57 with an unassisted goal to increase the lead to 7-1. Northland added their second goal at 11:14. UD responded just 37 seconds later when Alexandria Simmons scored, assisted by Schiile and Tetreault, to make it 8-2. Ashleigh Eldridge closed out the scoring at 13:32 with a goal assisted by Alexandria Simmons and Bree Hallson, securing the 9-2 final score.
The Spartans dominated offensively with 42 shots with Alexandria Simmons leading with nine shots. Ava Dedrick and Gracie Hall both finished the afternoon with two goals each. Bree Hallson led the team with three assists trailed by Madilynn Schiile and Lauren Jeffery who had two assists each. Alexandria Simmons contributed one goal and one assist. Goalie Molly Jex put in another strong performance in net, making 17 saves and allowing just two goals in 60 minutes for her second win of the season.
UD won 29 faceoffs and were by the duo of Zoe Cupples and Ava Dedrick who finished with nine and seven faceoff wins respectively.
With the victory, the Spartans improve to 4-9-1 on the season. They'll look to carry their three-game win streak when they travel to face Milwaukee School of Engineering Raiders at the Kern Center in Milwaukee for a Friday night contest on Jan. 17 beginning at 7:00 p.m. They continue the series on Saturday, Jan. 18 at 2:00 p.m.
