Gustavus X

Sport Pix photo via Gustavus Adolphus

The Gustavus women's hockey team captured its 10th consecutive — 10th! — MIAC playoff championship on Saturday afternoon. The Gusties defeated Concordia 4-1 to keep their undefeated season alive. They are 26-0-1.

There are only two other college teams in the country that are unbeaten. Division 1's top women's team, Minnesota, at 36-0-0, and another D3 women's team, Plattsburgh, at 25-0-2.

Led all season by MIAC Player of the Year Lindsey Hjelm, a senior forward who had a goal in the game, the Gusties got strong support from a pair of freshmen on Saturday, as forward Allison Eder-Zdechlik scored twice — she leads the team with 14 goals — and goalie Lindsey Hibbard stopped 16 shots.

Besides Hjelm getting her conference honor last week, coach Mike Carroll was named the MIAC's Coach of the Year.

Read more about the game here.

The Gusties advance to the NCAA tournament, which begins next weekend. The field will be announced on Monday. Check back on this blog post for an update on when and where Gustavus plays next.

UPDATE: Gustavus will host No. 6 Wisconsin-River Falls at 2 p.m. Saturday with the winner advancing to the D3 women's Frozen Four the following weekend in Superior, Wis.

Meanwhile, the Gustavus men saw their season end on Saturday when they fell 3-2 in the MIAC championship game at St. John's.  The Gusties were hoping to win their second straight tournament title.

The loss snapped an eight-game winning streak and ended the hockey season for Corey Leivermann, who transferred to Gustavus from Minnesota State during the semester break. Leivermann finished with 10 points, including two goals, in 13 games. He'll be a senior for the Gusties next season.