(Chelsea, MI) The Concordia women's hockey program faced head coach Maria Barlow's alma mater this weekend as the Cardinals challenged the Spartans from Michigan State. MSU swept the weekend series, winning game win 9-0 and the second game 11-1.
In the first game of the weekend, the Spartan offense came early and often with their first goal less than two minutes into the match. Michigan State would score two more in the first period and then another two in the second period. Through the first two periods, the Spartan defense stifled the Cards, not allowing any shots on goal. It wasn't until the third period when Concordia was able to create opportunities on offense as Adrianna Rugiero and Kassidy Scheben forced the Spartan goalie to save their shots. Lizzy Knappenberger was in goal for the Cardinals and recorded 59 saves for Concordia, nearly one per minute. Ultimately the Spartans would get the road win, 9-0.
For the second game on Saturday, it was the Cardinals who drew first blood with a rare goalie goal from Knappenberger. Sydney Schuyler rushed down the right side of the ice and passed to the front of the net, where Knappenberger (who had skated out of goal) was going hard to the net. The Cardinal goalie got her stick on the puck and hit it home just above the goalie's right leg to give the Cardinals their first lead in program history. The lead would be short lived as the Spartans answered 16 seconds later and went on to score 11 unanswered goals to win 11-1.
Next up for the Cardinals will be the University of Michigan on Friday, November 8th. The match will take place at the Arctic Coliseum with puck drop at 8:00 pm.
