10/17/06

Their 3-0 win over Northland College on Tuesday night at Public Schools Stadium in Duluth clinched a third consecutive regular season conference title for the Saints.

With a perfect 12-0-0 UMAC record, the Saints also assured themselves of hosting the UMAC post-season final four tournament in early November.

The Northland game began as the temperatures dropped from the mid-40s into the mid-30s with a right to left wind that sent the stadium's star spangled banner straight out from it's flagpole.

Play through the first half followed the wind and the attacking Saints offense as they piled up 21 shots in the half while the LumberJills could only fight through the stingy Saints midfield, defense and the wind for a single shot on goal.

The Saints were only able to muster up one goal in the half, though, and it came on a penalty kick from Kristy Shelerud in the 19th minute of the game.

As the wind let up a bit but shifted left to right, again with the Saints, in the second half, St. Scholastica pushed two shots past 'Jills keeper Brittany Ballwanz to open up a three-goal margin that the Saints defense and goalkeeper Kelly Momsen were not about to lose.

At 68:21, Saints leading scorer Robin Johnson one-touched a crossing pass from the right corner by Keely Raab, tapping the the ball into the left side of the goal behind Ballwanz. It was Johnson's 17th goal of the season.

Exactly nine minutes later first Johnson, then Shannon Kresky slid the ball to Angie Groh's foot for the freshman's seventh goal of the year.

Back in the defensive end, the 'Jills were desperately trying to get past a defense and Momsen that has kept opponents out of the net for eight straight games now. Though Northland got a pair of shots on frame in the half, Momsen was their each time, preserving the shutout and recording her 12th of the season.

St. Scholastica's win streak is now at 13 games, including that eight game unscored upon stretch. The Saints' team record for consecutive wins was set by the 2004 squad when they won 19 in a row, but never before have the Saints embarked on a successful defensive streak such as this one.

Even in the 2004 win streak, the longest scoreless streak they held opponents to was four games (twice), setting a team record that has now been doubled.

St. Scholastica's regular season conference schedule will end this weekend with a pair of home matches against Northwestern on Friday and Crown on Saturday. The Eagles from Northwestern were the last team to score on the Saints in a 2-1 loss to St. Scholastica in St. Paul on September 23rd.