Box Score
MENDOTA HEIGHTS, Minn. - Just last weekend, the Bethel Royals earned three out of a possible four points in the conference standings against the St. Thomas Tommies. That was then, during the regular season. Tonight was for all the marbles ... or at least enough marbles to advance to the championship game of the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) playoff tournament. Unfortunately for Bethel, their season came to an end tonight with a 3-0 loss at the hands of the Tommies.
The Royals fell behind 1-0 at 7:21 into the first period, but for the next 40 minutes of game time, goaltender
Beth Spurrier (Sr., Plymouth, Minn.) shut out the Tommie offense. St. Thomas added another goal at 9:58 into the third period to make the score 2-0.
Shortly after the Tommies took a two goal lead, the game took a bizarre turn of events, and the momentum of the game changed for good. The Royals came back to score a goal within seconds of the previous Tommie goal, only to have it disallowed. So instead of 2-1, the score remained 2-0. That is, of course, until 10:35, which is when St. Thomas scored their third and final goal.
A power play for Bethel later in the period rendered no fruit, nor did the previous times the Royals enjoyed a skater advantage.
Rachael Geng (Fr., So. St. Paul, Minn.) fired the most shots on goal for Bethel with six, while
Sandra Felten (Sr., Cashton, Wis.) tallied four.
Tonight's game also signified the end of five Royal collegiate careers. Spurrier, Felten, and
Bethany Murphy-Aultman (Sr., Grand Rapids, Minn.) will no doubt be long standing fixtures in Bethel's record book thanks to their on-ice contributions. The three each earned awards from the MIAC this last week, as did fellow senior
Anna Baumgarten (Sr., Elmhurst, Ill.), who was named to the MIAC's All-Sportsmanship team for the second time in three years. Assistant captain
Miriam Paas (Sr., Toronto, Ontario) rounds out the group of seniors who have the most combined wins of any four-year class in the program's 10-year history.
The loss gives Bethel a final season record of 11-10-4.
