The St. Thomas women’s hockey team (14-4-1 overall, 9-3-1 MIAC) got back on track with a commanding 4-1 win over the Concordia-Moorhead Cobbers (10-9-1 overall, 8-5 MIAC) Friday night at the St. Thomas Ice Arena.

An early first-period goal by Cobbers forward Kristin Drechsel forced freshman goalkeeper Kenzie Torpy to refocus.

“The team picked me up really well, and you just got to battle back,” Torpy said. “Especially when we got that goal, I knew I had to step up.”

Torpy stopped 23 of 24 shots on goal, the only goal being the first shot of the game for Concordia-Moorhead.

Shortly after the Cobbers’ goal, St. Thomas’ Demerise Cooper put the Tommies on the board with a rebound goal. The freshman found herself in the right place after two Tommie shots were rapidly deflected away in succession.

After that the Tommies took over, St. Thomas scored the final four goals of the game, the go-ahead goal coming midway through the second period from forward Briana Johnson on a perfectly placed pass from senior captain Megan Juricko.

“I think that just the idea that we [had] to keep playing the way we were playing and getting pucks to the net — playing better defensive zone. And we were able to hold strong,” Juricko said.

The Tommies finished the game adding two more goals. One wraparound goal came from freshman Becca Zarembinski and an open-net goal came from senior Rachel Friberg.

Coach Tom Palkowski said the win gave the team “breathing room,” but that the team still needs to stay focused.

“If you don’t follow it up tomorrow, you know you’re right back to where you were,” Coach Tom Palkowski said. “We need to hold serve as they say, and, you know, get four points and we control our own destiny.”

The Tommies get back on the ice with Concordia-Moorhead again at 2 p.m. Saturday at St. Thomas Ice Arena.

Adam Kraft can be reached at adam.kraft@stthomas.edu.