APPLETON, Wis. — Huck Saunders scored a pair of goals, and Lawrence University knocked off the 15th-ranked College of St. Scholastica 3-2 in a Northern Collegiate Hockey Association game on Saturday at the Appleton Family Ice Center.
Saunders scored midway through the second period to give the Vikings a two-goal lead, and Lawrence (5-13-1, 4-8-0 NCHA) went on to defeat its second ranked opponent of the season.
Freshman goaltender Mattias Soderqvist, who joined the team at midseason, made 30 saves to pick up his first collegiate victory. Tyler Bruggeman stopped 30 shots for the Saints (10-5-4, 7-2-3) and took the loss.
St. Scholastica got on the board at the 12:34 mark of the first period on Derek Hills’ power-play goal. Saunders tied the game at 1-1 with just 2:12 left in the opening period when he scored off assists from Steve Hughes and Blake Roubos.
Sean Reynolds put the Vikings up 2-1 when he scored his first collegiate goal off assists from Renato Engler and Paul Zuke at the 7:22 mark of the second. Saunders gave Lawrence a 3-1 lead with a goal at the 12:06 mark of the second with Kevin Killian and Ryan Robertson earning assists.
After Lawrence’s Erik Soderlund got sent off for unsportsmanlike conduct, Brandon Nowakowski scored on the ensuing power play at the 13:09 mark of the second to trim the lead to 3-2.
That was it for the scoring, and the Saints were forced to kill off four penalties over the final 25:28 of the game. St. Scholastica pulled Bruggeman for the final minute of the game but didn’t get any serious scoring chances with the extra attacker.