MEQUON, Wis. – The Concordia Wisconsin women's hockey team continued to make history on Friday night inside the Ozaukee Ice Center. The 13th-ranked Falcons hosted the ninth-ranked Bulldogs in the first game in program history to feature two ranked teams. The Falcons jumped into first place in the Northern Collegiate Hockey Association standings with a convincing 6-3 victory over Adrian. The Blue and White extend their unbeaten streak to 20 games at 20-1-1 and are now 14-0-1 in the NCHA standings.
The first period was a rapid-paced 20 minutes, with both teams able to get some quality looks but neither team could find the back of the net.
The second period featured an offensive explosion that resulted in all nine goals in the contest.
Junior Ava Litkey (Kenosha, Wis.) lit the lamp first on Friday from the top of the zone through traffic off passes from freshman Jordan McQuade (Brampton, Ontario) and junior Mackaylan McGown (Inver Grove Heights, Minn.).
The excitement was short lived as the Bulldogs tied the game 40 seconds later on a two-on-one breakout.
Two minutes later, freshman Abby Hansberger (Elk River, Minn.) redirected in a shot from Mackaylan McGown off a pass from junior Naomi Black (Ottawa, Ontario).
Senior Makayla Spejcher (Green Bay, Wis.) added to the lead 59 seconds later with a top-shelf snipe off passes from freshman Faith Fedyniak (St. Albert, Alberta) and sophomore Taylor Heleniak (Mercer, Wis.).
The Birds struck again 19 seconds later when freshman Michaela Gerum (Wausau, Wis.) created a breakaway off a pass from sophomore Kayla Gomes (Harrow, Ontario) and freshman Riley Veldman (Arvada, Colo.) cleaned up the loose puck on the rebound and scored.
The Bulldogs proved why they are the most dangerous shorthanded team in NCAA Division III when they scored their fifth shorthanded goal of the season.
The Falcons shook off the shorthanded goal and capitalized with a power-play goal two minutes later off the stick of Abby Hansberger from a pass from Mackaylan McGown.
CUW continued to make Adrian pay for costly penalties with another power-play goal for Makayla Spejcher from passes from Naomi Black and junior Scout Stromberg (Tomahawk, Wis.).
The Bulldogs scored the final goal of the contest at the 18:14 mark of the second period.
Concordia got into some trouble in the third period with a pair of penalties to create a five-on-three advantage, but the Falcons killed of the penalties.
Sophomore Gretchen Paaverud (Ramsey, Minn.) had 27 saves on the night.
The six goals are the most Adrian had allowed on the season and the most since a 5-7 loss at No. 3 Wisconsin-River Falls on Nov. 30, 2023. The six goals are the most the Falcons have scored on Adrian.
The Blue and White dominated the faceoff circle on Friday with Mackaylan McGown owning the dot, winning 18 of her 26 faceoffs.
The Falcons tied the program record for wins on a season, reaching the 20-win plateau for the second-straight season.
Concordia looked to keep the good times rolling on Saturday afternoon against the Bulldogs.
