An overtime goal by forward Rachel Werdin puts the St. Thomas women’s hockey team in the MIAC Championships next Saturday.

The Tommies (13-10-4 overall) defeated No. 1 Gustavus (17-6-3 overall) in the MIAC playoff semifinals Saturday to advance to the finals next weekend.

After the completion of the first period, the Tommies were down 1-0 with a goal from Gustavus forward Emily Gustafson.

“We just knew we couldn’t let up, and that we had to play harder,” Bird said. “ We usually play our best in the second period, so we were optimistic that we could come out and tie it up and take the lead.”

Head coach Tom Palkowski was confident going into the second period.

“I told them that it was a 60-minute game and that we still had 40 minutes left to play,” Palkowski said. “We had beat them previously this season, so we felt confident.”

The game was not in the Tommies’ favor after a second goal from Gustavus forward Erica Power, which lead to a 2-0 advantage.

Two minutes later forward Becca Zarembinski scored the Tommies’ first goal.

With about four minutes left in the second period Tommie defenseman Anna Williams tied up the game at 2-2.

A no scoring third period brought the teams into overtime.

With eight minutes left in the overtime period Kathryn Larson passed to Hannah Bird who passed it Rachel Werdin on the backdoor for the game-winning goal.

“It felt great to be able to score in overtime to extend the seniors season and get us to the MIAC Championship, which was one of our goals for the season,” Werdin said.

With the Championship around the corner, Palkowski believes the heart of the team is what will carrying them.

“We played last night so I wouldn’t say we played our best, but our heart and grit was what won us the game,” Palkowski said.

The Tommies will play in the MIAC Championship at Augsburg on Saturday, March 4.

Marissa Groechel can be reached at groe5630@stthomas.edu.