MEQUON, Wis. – The Concordia Wisconsin women's hockey team continues to soar to new heights. The 12th-ranked Falcons advanced to the Northern Collegiate Hockey Association (NCHA) Slaats Cup Semifinals with a 5-1 victory over Aurora, to complete the weekend sweep. The Falcons improve to 24-2-1 on the season with the victory.
The Falcons lit the lamp in the fifth minute of the contest on Saturday. Junior Mackaylan McGown (Inver Grove Heights, Minn.) tapped in a rebound of a sophomore Scout Stromberg (Tomahawk, Wis.) shot that was redirected by junior Naomi Black (Ottawa, Ontario).
Sophomore Sydney Fergusson (Bancroft, Ontario) scored her first collegiate goal when she tipped in a shot from Taylor Heleniak that rang off the post before the Urora defense could recover the puck.
Brenna-Grace Dittmer (Vhatham-Kent, Ontario) scored her second goal of the season to start the second-period scoring off assists from sophomore Taylor Heleniak (Mercer, Wis.) and junior Ava Litkey (Kenosha, Wis.).
The Spartans scored their lone goal of the night 12 minutes later, just sneaking the puck across the crease.
Mackaylan McGown continued her hot streak with a shot the zipped past the goalie off passes from freshman Abby Hansberger (Elk River, Minn.) and Scout Stromberg.
The trio connected three minutes later with the same pairing to send the imaginary hats flying onto the ice for McGown. Saturday marked the second three-assist performance for Scout Stromberg on the season. It was the first hat trick of the season and the second of McGown's career.
The Falcons kept the Spartans away from the net and held a 37-14 advantage in shots.
Sophomore Gretchen Paaverud (Ramsey, Minn.) finished with 13 saves.
The Blue and White held Aurora to only four shots on six power-play opportunities.
Concordia won over 71 percent of the faceoffs on Saturday at 38 of 53. Mackaylan McGown won 20 faceoffs on the night.
With the victory, Concordia will host its first-ever home semifinal contest against St. Norbert with a seven o'clock puck drop. No. 8 Adrian will host Lake Forest in the other semifinal.
