EAU CLAIRE, Wis. (Blugolds.com) – The University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire women's hockey team hosted the St. Olaf Oles on Tuesday night and came away with a dominating 10-2 victory.
While St. Olaf struck first, scoring at 5:50 and again at 6:51 in the first period, it would be all Blugolds after that.
Courtney Wittig (Jr. – Green Bay, WI/Bay Port) got Eau Claire on the board with her first goal of the night at 11:23 with an assist from Holly Turnbull (Jr. – Hayward, WI). Jaedyn Walz (Sr. – Woodbury, MN/East Ridge) then buried an unassisted goal at 15:20 to even the score at 2 at the end of the first period.
The Blugolds could not be stopped in the second period as they scored five unanswered goals. Walz and Wittig scored their second goals of the night to get things rolling for Eau Claire. With their foot on the gas pedal, Ellie Burris (Fr. – Mound Westonka, MN), Morgan Zirbel (Fr.-Green Bay, WI/Ashwaubenon) and Lauren Norgren (Sr. – Fergus Falls, MN) would all add goals of their own to give Eau Claire a commanding 7-2 lead after two periods of play.
In the third, Elizabeth Bauer (So. – Wausau, WI/East) would score a short-handed, empty-net goal just 57 seconds into the period and Wittig would get score her third goal of the night just three minutes later. Hanna Zavoral (Fr. – St. Paul, MN/Highland Park) would add the final Blugold score at the 15:27 mark to give the home squad the 10-2 non-conference win.
Eau Claire out-shot the Oles 46-11 and held the advantage in face-offs, winning 39 of 55.
Erin Connolly (Mequon, WI/Homestead) earned the win in goal, improving to 7-4-2 on the season while recording 9 saves.
The Blugolds (8-5-2) will return to Hobbs Friday night as they host Lake Forest at 7 p.m. Follow the action on Blugold Game Day.
