Tylke’s two goals lead St. Cloud State past Merrimack, 4-2

Friday, September 30

St. Cloud, Minn.

6:07 p.m.

St. Cloud State

1-2-0, 0-2-0WCHA

Merrimack

0-1-0, 0-0-0HE

Merrimack

St. Cloud State

Julia Tylke and her linemates combined for two goals and five points in the Huskies' win.

Photo by: Maddie MacFarlane

Tylke’s two goals lead St. Cloud State past Merrimack, 4-2

9/30/2016 9:45:00 PM | Women's Hockey

Box Score

Huskies hold off late Warriors rally to earn their first win of the season

ST. CLOUD—Julia Tylke's star shined for the St. Cloud State women's hockey team (1-2-0, 0-2-0 WCHA) Friday night, as the sophomore forward scored a pair of goals to lead the Huskies to their first win of the season, 4-2, over Merrimack.

SCSU's coaches have raved about Tylke's efforts over the offseason. She worked on honing her skills and becoming stronger and the results have been evident early on this season with three goals through the first three games.

"I knew I wanted to do more this season," Tylke said. "I put in a lot of extra work over the summer because I wanted to be able to improve on last year, come out and be confident and have fun."

The Delafield, Wis., native has an ability to generate offense out of nothing, which she exhibited on her second goal of the night. After pick-pocketing the puck in the neutral zone, Tylke blew by the pair of defenders and finished the play with a highlight reel-worthy move on the Warrior goaltender.

"She has that rare quality of being dangerous anytime she is on the ice," head coach Eric Rud said. "She can create offense out of nowhere."

That goal gave the Huskies a 2-0 lead and they sailed into the second intermission with a three-goal cushion after a tally from sophomore forward Jordan Stewart.

But Merrimack did not go quietly. The Warriors scored two power play goals in a 5:32 span early in the third period to cut St. Cloud State's lead to one with just 9:16 to play.

"Obviously you don't want to let that happen," Rud said. "This is two weeks in a row now that we've taken penalties in the third period and given up power play goals, which you don't want to have."

The Huskies stood tall in the face of Merrimack's momentum, though, and notched a power play goal of their own from junior defenseman Brittany Anderson with 5:34 to play to seal the win.

"To be able to bounce back from that and not crumble was encouraging," Rud said.

The victory was a night of firsts for St. Cloud State. In addition to getting their first win of the season, four freshmen—forwards Brooke Kudirka and Janna Haeg and defenseman Rachel Herzog—scored their first points of the season. Freshman goaltender Janine Alder stopped 24 shots to earn her first career win and Stewart's goal was not only her first of the season, but also the first of her Husky career.

The Huskies will close their two-game set against Merrimack on Saturday, October 1 at the Herb Brooks National Hockey Center. Game time is scheduled for 3:07 p.m. SCSU students with a validated and current student ID card are admitted free to all home athletic events.