FOND DU LAC, Wis. – Returning to the state of Wisconsin for Friday matinee with the Marian University Sabres on March 6th. The Scots saw early success and were able to hold on for a wire-to-wire win over the Sabres by a final score of 8-3.
Alma opened the scoring in the contest with three unanswered goals in the first quarter, holding the Sabres off the board for the first 15 minutes. Alma notched the first goal of the game a minute and a half into the game as freshman Brady Searer scored his first collegiate goal. Just three minutes later, Cuyler Fielhauer added to his season total scoring another to double the Scots lead. Nearing the end of the first quarter, Curtis Pleiness notched his first goal of the season unassisted to put Alma up 3-0, where the score would say as the first buzzer sounded.
Marian was able to cut into the lead in the second quarter, scoring their first of the game and the quarter at the ten-minute mark, chipping into the Scots lead. Both teams would trade possessions for the remainder of the first half, but neither team would tally a score on the board as the Scots headed into the break with a 3-1 lead.
Alma started the second half man-down after a receiving a penalty to begin play. Alma increased their lead at the 12-minute mark with a second goal from Pleiness on a feed from Elias Rakoczy. The Scots continued to lather on the goals with a man-up opportunity as Nolan O'Dea tallied the goal with another assist from Rakoczy. Marian responded with a quick goal just 15 seconds after the Scots goal, bringing the lead down to three. Alma closed out the third quarter with a 5-2 lead with 15 minutes left to play.
Fielhauer opened the scoring for the fourth quarter on an assist from O'Dea, putting Alma up four again less than a minute into the final frame. Just a minute later, Fielhauer tallied his third hat-trick of the season on an assist from David Meyer, putting Alma up five. Just over a minute later again, Fielhauer added another goal for his fourth of the game with an assist coming from Pleiness, putting Alma up six with just over eleven minutes left to play. Shortly after, Marian's offense found some life with a goal around the ten-minute mark, bringing them within five with time left to play. Alma would hold the Sabres scoreless for the remainder of the game as the Scots scored their first victory of the season, 8-3.
Fielhauer led the Scots scoring with four goals as Pleiness added two goals and an assist for three points while Rakoczy added two assists and O'Dea notched a goal and an assist to tie with two points. Cameron O'Bryan led the Scots with a career-high eight ground balls while Conner Cracium, Brenner Quick and O'Bryan each recorded three caused turnovers defensively. Preston Stelljes collected his first win of the season, making eight saves with above a 70% save percentage.
Alma will now open conference play on Wednesday, March 11th as they will host Kalamazoo College on Bahlke Field. Face off for the Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association contest is set for 7:00 PM.
