3rd-Period Duo Books Ticket To Semis

MOORHEAD, Minn. (2/25/16)—A pair of third-period goals helped Concordia beat St. Mary's 3-1 in the MIAC quarterfinals.

Hannah Johnston scored the game-winning goal midway through the final period and then senior Anna Westmark added an empty-net goal in the final minute of play to push the Cobbers into the MIAC semifinals for the sixth straight season.

Johnston broke up the 1-1 tie at the 12:48 mark of the third period when she got control of the puck on the left side boards, down the left faceoff circle and fired a shot from outside the crease which deflected off of a pair of Cardinals defenders' sticks and went over the top left shoulder of the SMU goalie into the net.

It was Johnston's first game-winning goal of the season. Westmark finished off the game by walking in untouched from the red line and sliding the puck home at the 19:20 mark. Tori Davis earned the assist on Westmark's eighth goal of the year. It was her second of two points on the day.

The win is the 14th of the year for the Cobbers which is one shy of the school record set in 2011 and 2012. Concordia is now 14-11-1 for the season. St. Mary's ends their year with a 10-13-3 overall mark.

The playoff game got off to the perfect start for Concordia as the leading goal scorer in the MIAC Davis put CC up 1-0 with a power play goal at the 6:48 mark. Davis got the puck from Jess Nelson skated between the faceoff circles and fired a wrist shot that beat the Cardinal goalie to the blocker side.

Neither team was able to generate much offense in the first period of play. The teams combined for only 13 shots on goal for the first 20 minutes of play.

It looked like the Cobbers would take a 1-0 lead into the second periods but then an odd-man rush for SMU netted the game-tying goal in the final minute of the first frame.

The teams then produced 17 shots in the second period with each team having a couple of quality chances to score. Neither team was able to break the tie and then Concordia survived an SMU power play late in the period that carried over into the third stanza.

The referees let the players determine the outcome of the game in the third period as no penalties were called and both teams had in-close chances before Johnston swayed the game in Concordia's favor.

St. Mary's outshot Concordia 23-21 for the game but CC held a 16-15 edge in the final two periods of play. Jessie Kongelf had a game-high six shots while Ellen Rethwisch added four.

MAGIC TOUCH
Sophomore Tori Davis has now scored at least one goal in six of the past nine games. Her 17 goals is tops in the league. Davis has now scored in 12 games this season and the Cobbers are 10-2 when she scores at least one goal.

Concordia vs. St. Mary's Highlights

HOME PLAYOFF SUCCESS
Concordia is now 4-1 in MIAC playoff games at home and 4-1 in conference quarterfinal contests. CC played in the very first MIAC quarterfinal game back in 2002 when they beat St. Benedict 7-4.

THE MAGIC NUMBER
Concordia is now 12-0-1 on the season when they allow two or fewer goals in a game.

WHAT'S NEXT
Concordia will face a familiar playoff foe in the semifinals. The Cobbers will play at St. Thomas on Saturday at 2 p.m. CC and UST have faced each other the past four years in the semifinals and the teams are 2-2 in that stretch. The only other time they have met in the playoffs came back in 2008 when the Tommies posted a 4-2 victory in the semifinals. Concordia and St. Thomas split their regular-season series this year in St. Paul. UST won the opener 4-1 and then the Cobbers ground out a 10 victory in the finale.