No. 21 Warriors Honor Seniors, Split Series with No. 12 UMary
FREMONT, Neb. – The No. 21 Midland University Warriors hosted No. 12 University of Mary for their final homestand of the season. The Warriors earned a hard-fought 4-2 victory in the opener on Friday night but narrowly lost 5-4 in overtime on Saturday.
FRIDAY: Midland 4, UMary 2
Near the end of a quick and quiet opening period, the Warriors struck first as Logan Wotton scored a power-play goal with 1:09 left before intermission. Milan Breczko and Hugo Lukacovic assisted on the goal, which came after a delay-of-game penalty on the Marauders' netminder.
UMary found the equalizer early in the second period, scoring on its second power play of the night. Midland responded when Wotton scored again on the power play with 4:10 left in the period. Breczko, who was playing his first games of the second semester after missing time at the World University Games, picked up the assist. The Warriors took a 2-1 lead into the final break.
The Marauders tied the game at 7:53 of the third period. Midway through the period, Tommy Babb put the Warriors back on top, scoring off a feed from Karl Grafelman and Ethan Brown at 10:24. With UMary pressing, Midland added an insurance goal a few minutes later as Babb netted his second of the game. Breczko and Jack Olson assisted on the goal to seal the victory.
Liam Tereposky was solid in net for the Warriors, stopping 29 shots. His counterpart made 15 saves, as UMary outshot Midland 31-19.
SATURDAY: UMary 5, Midland 4 (OT)
Through 40 minutes on Senior Night, the Warriors were down 4-0 after two periods. The Marauders scored two goals in the first and added two more in the second. However, Midland mounted a comeback in the third.
Ethan Brown opened the scoring for the Warriors with a shorthanded goal at 15:28. After killing off the remainder of the penalty, Midland drew a few penalties on UMary.
With just under eight minutes remaining, UMary began to falter. A tripping call, followed by a bench misconduct, gave Midland a chance to get back in the game. Karl Grafelman scored off a pass from Leo Milan at 13:32, cutting the lead to 4-2.
One minute later, after a too many men on the ice penalty by UMary, Milan scored on a five-on-three advantage. Tommy Babb assisted on the goal, making it 4-3 with 5:28 on the clock.
With time winding down, the Warriors kept their offensive pressure high. Zach Weber, honored with his four classmates before the game, tied the game with 4.9 seconds remaining, assisted by Brown.
In overtime, Midland had early control and a few chances on offense. However, a costly too many men on the ice penalty at 4:23 shifted momentum to UMary. Less than 30 seconds later, the Marauders capitalized on the four-on-three, scoring the game-winning goal.
The final home game for the Warriors was a hard-fought contest, with 32 penalties called between the two teams.
Tereposky was stellar in goal, stopping 28 shots while suffering the overtime loss. UMary edged out Midland in shots 33-29.
Midland (16-16-1) will close out the regular season next weekend with a road trip to No. 7 Drury (25-1). The Warriors and Panthers will meet on Feb. 14-15 in Springfield, Missouri, at the Brightspeed Ice Park.