Led by two goals from forward Leah Schwartzman, the No. 8-ranked St. Thomas women’s hockey team beat Wisconsin-Superior 5-2 Tuesday night at St. Thomas Ice Arena.

The Tommies started strong, jumping out to an early lead on Schwartzman’s goal within the first two minutes of the game. Forward Rachel Friberg was credited with the assist. Schwartzman said her first goal was a product of being in the right place at the right time.

“I’m kind of like a rebound type of goal scorer, so I kind of was just in front of the net where I usually am and saw the puck pop out and just went toward the net and it was there,” Schwartzman said.

After Schwartzman led with the first goal, Wisconsin-Superior took advantage of a tripping penalty called against Tommie defenseman Nuala Flood. The Yellowjackets answered to tie the game with a power play goal from forward Leah Elledge.

Friberg set the Tommies ahead and ended the first period by sending a quick shot into the net. Defenseman Megan Juricko picked up the assist on Friberg’s goal at 18:16 of the first period.

Although the Tommies had a solid start in the first period, they fell into a tie during the second period when Yellowjackets forward Mandy Tomlinson scored at the 13:25 mark to even up the score at 2-2. The tie wouldn’t hold in the final period though. St. Thomas took charge and scored three unanswered goals to pull through for a strong win.

“We were clearly dictating the play. It was just a matter of sticking with it we were wearing them down, and we finally chipped a few in,” coach Tom Palkowski explained.

Forward Ellie Tobaka assisted on forward Kaylee Druk’s goal just over five minutes into the third period that broke the tie. Schwartzman added to the score with her second goal of the game, this time taking advantage on the power play.

“I saw an opening and I took it,” Schwartzman said.

Forward Kathryn Larson finished the game out strong by sending one last puck past Wisconsin-Superior goaltender Sky Brown and into the net. St. Thomas kept Brown busy all game, peppering her with 45 shots.

Her counterpart, Tommie goalie Kenzie Torpy, stopped 24 of 26 shots faced in the win. She said the last period of the game was her favorite part of the evening.

“The first two periods we were doing well and getting some shots, but we finally got some goals in the last period,” Torpy explained.

The Tommies are facing the challenge of losing a number of seniors from last year, but St. Thomas gained a group of talented freshman this year.

“I think we have a lot of potential this year; we have a lot of freshman this year but also a lot of seniors so I think the dynamic of the team is good … overall I think we should be pretty successful,” Schwartzman explained.

Palkowski agreed that the team is talented and looks forward to seeing the season progress.

St. Thomas faces Gustavus twice within the next four days. The Tommies will travel to St. Peter to face the Gusties Friday before playing host on Saturday. Gustavus won the MIAC championship last season, while St. Thomas settled for second.

“The girls are looking forward to it,” Palkowski said. “We’ll take them on and wherever and whenever I guess is the way we look at it.”

Rachel Weiss can be reached at weis3565@stthomas.edu.