Finlandia’s Lauren Lacroix defends during a game against Concordia-Moorhead earlier this season at the Houghton County Arena in Hancock. (Photo courtesy of Finlandia University)

DEPERE, Wis. — The Finlandia Lions women’s hockey team has struggled out of the gates, falling to 0-6 on the season after losing a pair of games at home to the No. 15 Aurora Spartans. However, coach Mike Kuruc was encouraged by how the Lions finished the game Saturday, and feels that his group might be in the process of turning the corner, so to speak.

The Lions struggled Friday to contain the Spartans’ Darci Matson, who burned them for four goals and three assists in a 10-0 loss. When Matson did not have the puck, Bethany Koman added three goals. Marisa Trevino spent the night setting things up, racking up six assists in the contest.

“Darci Madsen went out night No. 1, had seven points, matched her entire season output in one night,” Kuruc said. “The other girl on her line there (Koman), they’re kind of a really good pair. Matson creates a lot of space, and that’s exactly what she did.”

Saturday night, Matson struck twice. Koman was held to just one assist, and Trevino had no points in a 7-0 win that saw the Spartans score four goals in the first period, but only three over the game’s final 48:35.

“Friday night was tough,” said Kuruc. “Saturday, we went out, we were horrible in the first 20 minutes.”

After that first period ended, Kuruc addressed the team in the locker room.

“I came back in the locker room,” he said. “I got pretty upset. I got pretty loud. I walked out of the locker room, and it was completely silent.

“I knocked back on the door, and I walked back in the locker room, and I said, ‘girls, this isn’t my personality. I don’t like yelling. I don’t like doing this type of stuff. I don’t like getting upset, but we need to do the things that I’m talking about if we want to be successful.'”

Kuruc felt that the game’s 40 minutes proved to the team that they can compete, when they work together and buy into what he has been trying to get them to do.

“From that point forward, we went out and played the best 40 minutes of hockey we played all year,” he said. “We played a solid system game in the defensive zone. Especially in the third period, we played hard. We played with an edge.”

If they can build off of that effort, Kuruc believes that the Lions will get rewarded at some point sooner, rather than later.

“We played a really solid 20 minutes of hockey the last 20 minutes that built off of a solid 20 minutes from the 20 minutes before,” he said, “so, I think it’s only getting better. My hope is we can carry that momentum into this weekend. We’ve got a tough St. Norbert team we’re playing on an Olympic sheet, which is something they’re (the Lions) not used to, so it’s going to change a lot of things this weekend. But, if we can carry that momentum, I think we’re going to be fine.”

Scouting the Green Knights

This weekend, the Lions hit the road to face the St. Norbert Green Knights. The Green Knights, while not nationally ranked, were picked to finish ahead of the Spartans in the NCHA standings in the preseason polls.

The Green Knights are 4-1-2 on the season, having split with Hamline to open the season before earning a win and a tie against St. Scholastica, a tie against Wisconsin-Stevens Point, and a sweep against Lawrence.

St. Norbert does its most damage late in games, outscoring their opponents, 13-3 in the game’s final 20 minutes.

“They’re just a well-rounded team,” Kuruc said. “They’ve got speed. They’ve got size on (defense). They’ve got kids with good hands. They’ve got kids that can shoot the puck.

“They play themselves in an unbelievably structured system, which is awesome. It’s fun to watch a team like that…It’s fun to watch a team that plays with such structure.”

Sophomore forward Kelsey Ross is tied for the team lead in goals with five and points with 11. Sophomore forward Natalie Hogan has four goals and 11 points. Junior forward Morgan Olson had five goals and nine points.

In goal, junior Brynn Waisman has seen the most action, appearing in four games. She sports a 0.81 goals against average and a .951 save percentage.