(HAZELWOOD, Mo., Oct. 15) – The McKendree University women's hockey team won their first game at home this season on Saturday night against Midland University by a score of 5-3. The game was played at the Ice Zone at the St. Louis Mills.
 
The Bearcats received goals from five different players in the game. The first goal of the game came from freshman forward Lara Wentz (Bismark, ND) with assists credited to Nadia Studnicka (Chillicothe, IL/Home School) and Delayne Ivanowski (Kirkwood, MO/Kirkwood). Midland responded with a goal of its own tying it up to close out the first period. The teams traded goals in the second period as well, with McKendree's goal coming from freshman forward Alyssa Albee (Brookfield, WI/Brookfield Central) from Allison Sauvola (Eagle River, WI/Northland Pines) and Jordan Painter (Heath, OH/Heath). In the third period the Bearcats struck first on an unassisted tally from freshman Natalia Taylor (Sooke, BC/Athol Murray College of Notre Dame). McKendree added to their lead on a power play goal from freshman Keisha Johnson (Clearwater, BC) from Albee and Ivanowski. The Warriors scored their final goal while short handed, but the Bearcats weren't done scoring. On the power play Ivanowski blasted one past the Warriors goalie with assists coming from Taylor and Johnson.  
 
 
During the contest Taylor, Albee, and Johnson all netted their first goals of the season. Wentz scored her sixth goal of the season and Ivanowski added her fourth of the season.
 
 
Backstopping the Bearcats was freshman goalie Jazmin Malinowski (New Lenox, IL/Lincoln-Way), who stopped 27 of 30 shots on goal registering a save percentage of 0.900.
 
"It's nice to get our first home win ever under our belts. It was a pretty spirited game at times and we managed to play through a bad spell during the second period and got the momentum back after Midland pulled ahead," said head coach Craig Buntenbach. "We're proud of the ladies for battling so hard and coming away with the win, we're down a couple forwards and a few more are battling through some other ailments so this was a real character win for us."
 
 
McKendree hits the ice again Sunday afternoon at 12:10 p.m. at the Ice Zone at the St. Louis Mills Outlet Mall.