No. 2 Warriors Advance to Semifinals with Win Over Indiana Tech

MARYLAND HEIGHTS, Mo. – After a break of nearly three weeks, No. 2 ranked and seeded Midland University was back on the ice for its first game at the ACHA Women's Division 1 Nationals on Friday. Waiting for them was No. 8 ranked and seeded Indiana Institute of Technology who had won its first game of the tournament on Wednesday, 4-2 over Maryville University, to reach the quarterfinals. In the battle of Warriors, it was Midland coming out on top, 4-1, to move on to the semifinal round on Saturday.

In the opening period, it took just over 12 minutes before the first entry into the game sheet. With just under eight minutes to go, Jenna Grosdidier found Darbi Poole for the game's first goal. A few minutes later, the game's first penalty was issued as Midland was called for too many skaters. Indiana Tech was unable to take advantage of the power play chance.

As the time was winding down in the period, Tech was whistled for a pair of minors in the final two minutes. The first was for tripping and the second was for a cross-check. Midland was unable to score before the intermission and took a 1-0 lead into the dressing rooms.

Coming out of the break, Midland had 1:57 of the carryover power play chance. Indiana Tech was able to burn off the time, keeping the game at a one-goal difference.

After a tripping call against Indiana Tech at the 14:20 mark, it took less than a minute for the Midland power play team to put the puck past the goalie. With just 26 seconds of a player advantage, Grosdidier lit the lamp off a feed from Callie Maguire and Kayla Flanigan.

Indiana Tech continued to battle, and with just under a minute before the second intermission, they found the back of the net. They did so on a powerplay chance following a tripping call against the Warriors.

With a one-goal lead and one period to play, Midland used the second break in play to set up its offensive strategy. Just over two minutes into the third, Flanigan found the back of the net off a feed from Maguire and Ally Rakowski. The goal officially came at the 2:36 mark while Indiana Tech was serving a holding minor.

Looking to come back from a two-goal deficit, Indiana Tech pulled its with over three minutes left. It didn't take long for Taylor Bell to score an empty-net goal to seal the win for Midland.

Hannah Stone was solid for the Warriors. She had 19 saves while playing the full hour of game time for the win.

Midland (30-1-2) will move on to the semifinals on Saturday, March 16. With the tournament set up to reseed the teams after every round, the Warriors will either face No. 3 Adrian at 4:00 p.m. or No. 10 Arizona State at 7:00 p.m. At the time of posting, ASU and top-seeded Liberty were headed to overtime in the final quarterfinal game.