Box Score

WINONA, Minn. – The Bethel University women's hockey team fell behind early at Saint Mary's and their third period comeback fell just short in a 4-3 loss. The fall-out from the loss, the first in their last seven games, means the Royals will be playing in the No. 4/5 seed first round playoff game at home Tuesday night against St. Catherine's instead of receiving a first round bye and either the No. 2 or No. 3 seed. Saint Mary's bolted out to a 4-1 lead midway through the second period before Bethel scored twice in the third period and had multiple opportunities down the stretch to tie the game but fell just short.

Lindsay Burman scored the Royals first goal in the third period at the 7:02 mark to pull the Royals within 4-2 and create some momentum. It was Burman's 10th goal of the year. Four and a half minutes later Cristina Masten scored her second goal of the game on a Royals power play to bring the Royals within one with just over eight minutes to play in the game. Kalie Johnson very nearly tied the game up for Bethel with five and a half minutes remaining when she was presented with a one-on-one with the Saint Mary's goalie. Johnson's shot slipped under the goalie's pads but stayed just wide of the net. The Royals ability to tie the game took a major hit when the Cardinals went on a five-on-three power play with just over four minutes left to play. Freshman goaltender Erika Allen and the Royals were able to kill off the penalty to give themselves a chance to score the tying goal in the final two minutes. With a just under a minute and a half remaining and control of the puck Bethel pulled Allen and inserted an extra skater. A flurry of Royals shots came up empty however, and Saint Mary's survived to pull out the victory in the regular season finale.

The Cardinals jumped on the Royals early with a goal just 2:46 in for a 1-0 lead. Masten tied the game up for Bethel with a goal ten minutes into the period on assists from Caroline Kivisto and Kalie Johnson. The Cardinals regained the lead for good with a power play goal with under a minute left in the period and would go on to score two more goals in the middle of the second period to build their 4-1 lead.

The Cardinals outshot the Royals 35-26 for the game. Allen made 31 saves for Bethel. Each team scored once on the power play with Bethel having five chances and Saint Mary's four.
With the two goals in Saturday's game junior forward Cristina Masten pushed her season point total to 34, allowing her to run away with the MIAC scoring lead, as the next highest point total belonged to St. Olaf's Margot Fleming at 27. The goals were her MIAC leading 21st and 22nd of the season, which sets a new Bethel single season mark, breaking the previous record of 20 set by Sandra Felten in 2007-08. Her 34 points also tied the single season record held by Bethany Murphy-Aultman, also in 2007-08. Masten finished the regular season on a tear, scoring at least one goal and 17 total points, in the Royals final seven games.

The Royals will look to get back to their winning ways against St. Catherine's University Tuesday in the first round of the MIAC playoffs. It is the Royals fifth playoff appearance in the last six seasons. The winner of Tuesday's game will advance to take on #2 ranked and undefeated MIAC champion Gustavus Thursday night in St. Peter, Minn. The complete MIAC Women's Hockey Playoff bracket and information can be found here.