ANGOLA, Ind. — Coming off of a 3-1 loss to the St. Catherine Wildcats, the Finlandia Lions women’s hockey team goes back on the road this weekend to face Trine, a newcomer to the NCHA this season. The Lions are honored to be the first team to face the Thunder and they also hope to build off of their strong showing against the Wildcats.

“It was an okay game for the first game of the season,” said head coach Matt Marchel. “It was a 2-1 game until five or six minutes left in the third. I was proud of the way we competed.”

Sophomore goaltender Annah Smiddy made 55 saves on the night for the Lions as one of the highlights of the game against the Wildcats, which was valuable in keeping the Lions where they wanted to be for much of the night.

“Annah was the highlight of our game,” said Marchel. “She does a great job for us.”

Junior winger Natasha Kern scored the lone goal for the Lions, and the fact that someone other than senior forward Sierra Meiners scored in Finlandia’s first game bodes well for the improving depth of the roster.

“That’s awesome,” said Marchel. “She told me that she was going to score some more goals this year than she did last year. It was awesome. There was no doubt about it.”

Meiners also had multiple scoring opportunities, but could not quite bury one.

This weekend, the Lions and Thunder will play the inaugural game at Thunder Ice Arena on Trine’s campus.

“It is going to be a little different atmosphere than we tend to play in,” said Marchel. “I think we are going to fare well. We had a good week of practice.”

Game time on Friday is 7 p.m. Saturday’s game will be a 2 p.m.