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St. Thomas, Concordia, Gustavus Saint Mary's, Augsburg AT STAKE |
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Location: St. Paul, Minn.
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| Founded: 1885 |
| Enrollment: 5,000 |
| President: Father Dennis Dease |
| Nickname: Tommies |
| School Colors: Purple and Gray |
| National Affiliation: NCAA Division III |
| Conference: MIAC |
| SID: Gene McGivern |
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| Head coach: Kevin Gorg |
| Assistants: Tom Palkowski, Mark McCasy, Karissa Staph |
| 2002-2003 record: 14-2-2 MIAC, 17-6-2 |
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The Tommies are making their third straight MIAC post-season tournament appearance. St. Thomas earned its first-ever regular-season conference title, posting a 14-4-2 record. For the second year in a row, the Tommies were eliminated by Saint Mary's in the first round of last year's conference tournament, 5-3.
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| After third-place MIAC finishes the last two seasons, the St. Thomas women's hockey team won its first conference championship in its five-year varsity history. UST also set a school record with its 17 wins. The Toms' 14-2-2 MIAC record let them win the championship by five points over runners-up Gustavus and Concordia (25 each). But the Tommies, 17-6-2 overall, have been inconsistent in February, going 3-4-1 this month after winning eight of nine January games... In a Feb. 14 & 16 series with eighth-place St. Ben's, the Tommies had a 4-4 tie and a 4-3 win. Last weekend, they lost to St. Mary's 3-2 and 4-3 (overtime)... UST has outscored foes 100-64... Two of the Toms' defeats have come vs. nationally-ranked Bowdoin and Williams... UST also lost 3-2 at UW-Superior and have split two close games with UW-River Falls... Junior forward Tomery Stolz, UST's career scoring leader with 115 points (57g-58a) in 75 games, sat out the St. Mary's series with an injury but should return for this weekend's playoffs. But injured forward Tiffany Petermeier (19g-19a in 46 career games) is lost for the season... Five of the Toms' top six scorers and their No. 1 goalie are all freshmen... Maureen Hardwick leads the team in scoring with 41 points (21g-20a) followed by fellow freshman Tanaya Reitz with 37 points (13g-24a) and Stolz with 32 points (14g-18a)... Stolz scored the game's only goal in the third period of a 1-0 win over Gustavus... Freshman Mel Drake ranks among the national leaders with six power-play goals... Freshman Becky Kilpatrick is 9-4-1 in goal with a 2.41 GAA and an .894 save percentage, with two shutouts. Junior Danielle Mikolai is 8-2-1 with a 2.69 GAA and an .879 save percentage with one shutout... Hardwick also was the medalist in the 2002 fall MIAC Women's Golf Championship and has been a conference Player of the Week in golf and hockey. |