MEQUON, Wis. – The milestones keep growing for the Concordia Wisconsin women's hockey team in its historic 2024-25 season. On Saturday night, the Falcons brought out the brooms to 20-6-1 with a 7-0 victory over Marian in the Slaats Cup Quarterfinals.
"This whole group should be extremely proud of themselves for accomplishing a 20-win season and advancing to the semifinals," said head coach Steve Fabiilli. "They have worked very hard and pushed each other to get better every day. It has been an honor to coach this team and all the success we have had is because of each and every member of the team. The seniors will leave an enormous imprint on this program with the success they have had over four years. Being able to get a win and advance to the semis in their last home game is an awesome accomplishment."
Junior Makayla Spejcher (Green Bay, Wis.) started the scoring on Saturday in the first period when she skated from end to end as she cut through the Marian defense like a hot knife through butter.
Senior Savannah Hutchins (Inver Grove Heights, Minn.) snuck the puck past the right blade of the goalie halfway through the second period off assists from Makayla Spejcher and senior Brooke Gibson (LaSalle, Ontario).
The Falcons scored their third shorthanded goal of the year when sophomore Mackaylan McGown (Inver Grove Heights, Minn.) pulled the goalie to her left and let the puck slide in off a pass from senior Amanda Bauer (Waunakee, Wis.).
The third-period scoring started with a scrum in front of the net where sophomore Naomi Black (Ottawa, Ontario) was victorious and buried the puck into the net with Mackaylan McGown and Amanda Bauer adding the assists.
Amanda Bauer continued the terrorizing of the Sabres with a sharp-angled top-shelf beauty to light the lamp off passes from sophomore Ava Litkey (Kenosha, Wis.) and Savannah Hutchins.
Makayla Spejcher gave the empty net some comfort with a goal with 60 seconds left with a blast from the neutral zone and assists to Brooke Gibson and freshman Scout Stromberg (Tomahawk, Wis.).
Freshman Kayla Gomez (Harrow, Ontario) ended the scoring with another empty net goal during the third-period feast with Amanda Bauer and junior Kaitlyn Hansen (Chisago, Minn.) having the final assists of the evening.
Senior Kami McCardle (Jackson, Wis.) was perfect again for the Falcons in net and finished with 15 saves. Saturday was her fifth shutout of the season and her 11th victory. The 11 wins ties the program record for wins in a season. She is also two saves away from 1000 career saves.
The Falcons held a 41-15 advantage in shots on Saturday. Amanda Bauer and Brooke Gibson led the charge with seven shots each.
The Birds also dominated the faceoff circle once again on Saturday, winning 32 of the 42 faceoffs. Mackaylan McGown locked down the draw winning 20 of her 21 faceoffs.
The Sabres season comes to an end at 7-17-3.
This is the first time that the Falcons have advanced in the tournament since the 2020-21 season where they advanced to the NCHA North Division Finals against St. Scholastic. It is the first time in the current tournament format that the Falcons have advanced to the Slaats Cup Semifinals since 2015, where they advanced to the finals by winning at Adrian in the semifinals.
The Falcons will fly east for the Slaats Cup Playoffs at Adrian on Saturday. The Bulldogs blitzed Tine, 7-0, 12-1. St. Norbert swept Lawrence, 6-1, 7-2, to host Lake Forest, who rallied back after losing Friday, 2-3, beating Aurora, 4-1 today and the mini-game, 2-0, to advance.
