DULUTH, Minn. (csssaints.com) – The St. Scholastica women's hockey team will be competing in its first Northern Collegiate Hockey Association (NCHA) O'Brien Cup Semifinals on Friday when it faces St. Norbert College in River Falls, Wis.
Game Schedule: (Game Day Media)
Friday:
St. Scholastica vs. St. Norbert – 3:05 p.m.
(Live Stats | Live Audio)
UW-River Falls vs. UW-Stevens Point – 7:05 p.m.
(Live Stats | Live Audio)
Saturday
Championship Game – 4:05 p.m.
(Live Stats | Live Audio)
About the Saints
Record: 14-9-4, 9-8-3 NCHA
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The Saints are the No. 6 seed, but are not the lowest seed remaining of the final four teams. (No. 7 UW-Stevens Point)
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CSS won its first-ever O'Brien Cup game when it defeated Lake Forest 2-0 on Friday night. The Saints then won their first-ever O'Brien Cup series, rallying to defeat the Foresters 2-1 on Saturday to complete the sweep.
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The Saints enter the weekend on a four-game winning streak, which matches a season-high.
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Nina Waidacher (Arosa, Switzerland/Wirtschaftschule KV Chur (ZSC Lions/Swiss U18 National)) and Michelle Fischer (St. Paul, Minn./Cretin-Derham Hall) each had a string of five straight games with at least a point snapped in Saturday's win.
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Fischer still leads NCAA Division III in assists (29), while Waidacher has fallen to third in country, averaging 1.62 points per game.
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Senior goaltender Teraysa White (Belgrade, Maine/Brewster Academy (New England College)) allowed just one goal in the series sweep of Lake Forest last weekend, averaging 33 saves in the two games.
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Her 2.34 goals-against-average and .920 saves percentage are the best they have been since November.
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The Saints are still ranked eighth in the nation in scoring offense (3.56 goals per game) and seventh on the power-play (.234).
About the Green Knights
Record: 16-9-2, 12-7-1 NCHA
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St. Norbert enters the weekend as the hottest of the four teams playing this season.
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The Green Knights have won seven straight games, including sweeps of Lake Forest, UW-Stevens Point and UW-Superior last weekend in the quarterfinals.
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St. Norbert has lost just once since Jan. 13, a span of 12 games.
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The Green Knights are ranked ninth in this week's USCHO.com poll.
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The Green Knights are led by junior forwards Henriette Ostergaard and Karissa Anderson. Ostergaard leads the team with 15 goals and 29 points, while Anderson has a team-high 15 assists and is second with 28 points.
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Ostergaard has scored at least one goal in each of the last five games she has played in.
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Kaley Gibson has a 2.24 goals-against-average and a .922 saves percentage this season.
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St. Norbert is 12-0-1 when leading after two periods and 10-2-1 when they score first this season.
Series History: (CSS is 2-4-0 vs. St. Norbert)
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The teams split the season series way back in early November in De Pere with the Green Knights winning the first game 4-2 and the Saints earning the split with a 6-1 win in game two.
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Five of the first six meetings have been decided by two goals or less.
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The Saints and Green Knights both entered the NCHA at the beginning of the 2010-11 season.
About the Falcons
Record: 20-5-2, 15-3-2 NCHA
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UW-River Falls is 13-1-0 in its last 14 games.
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The Falcons are ranked sixth in the USCHO.com poll and seventh by D3hockey.com.
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The Falcons split with its semifinal opponent UW-Stevens Point during the regular season.
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River Falls swept UW-Eau Claire in the quarterfinals last weekend by 5-4 and 5-2 scores, respectively.
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Junior forward Kait Mason leads the team with 31 points this season on 18 goals and 13 assists.
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Sophomore Katie Batters has a team-high 20 goals and junior Brook Story leads the squad with 16 assists.
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Batters is seventh in the nation, averaging 0.83 goals per game.
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Junior Ashley Kuechle and freshman Gillian McDonald have split time in net this season.
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Kuechle has a better goals-against-average (1.69) and saves percentage (.912), while McDonald has recorded more wins (10).
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The Falcons are ranked third in the nation in scoring offense (4.70 goals per game) and sixth in scoring defense (1.56).
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The River Falls power-play is second in NCAA Division III with a .264 conversion percentage.
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UWRF is 16-1-0 when leading after two periods this season and are 18-2-0 when scoring first.
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The Falcons are just 3-5-0 in one-goal games.
Series History: (CSS is 0-6-0 vs. UW-River Falls)
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With the wins over Lake Forest last weekend, UW-River Falls is now the only NCHA team the Saints have not beaten in program history.
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The Falcons swept the Saints at home three weeks ago by scores of 5-3 and 5-2.
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River Falls has scored at least four goals in five of the first six meetings.
About the Pointers
Record: 12-12-3, 9-8-3 NCHA
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UW-Stevens Point is coming off an upset win over second-seeded Adrian College (Mich.) in the quarterfinals.
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The Pointers dropped the first game 3-2 in overtime and then took the second 2-1 to force a mini-game. In the mini-game, UWSP won in sudden death overtime 2-1 to advance.
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Prior to the quarterfinals series, the Pointers had lost four straight games to end the regular season.
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Stevens Point's only wins during the second half of the season have come against Marian, who finished 10th in the league, UW-Eau Claire, who finished eighth and a non-conference win against St. Thomas.
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The Pointers are led by junior Cassandra Salmen who leads the team with 12 goals and 20 points.
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Michelle Lunneborg has a team-high 12 assists.
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Sophomores Janna Beilke-Skoug and Hillary Drake have split time in net this season. Drake has a 2.06 goals-against-average and a .918 saves percentage, while Beilke-Skoug has a 2.87 GAA and a .908 saves percentage.
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The Pointers are 10-2-2 when leading after two periods this season, but are 1-5-1 when trailing at the first intermission.
Series History: (CSS is 3-3-0 vs. UW-Stevens Point)
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The Saints swept the Pointers earlier this season and have won three straight in the series.
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CSS won game one this year 7-3 and then prevailed in a 3-2 overtime win in game two.
