After a one-year hiatus, the New Trier girls are once again state champions.
The Trevians defeated Loyola 3-2 in double overtime Thursday at the United Center for the Blackhawk Cup championship.
Junior forward Ivy Dynek scored the game-winner from about 10 feet on a power play with 2:09 left in the second overtime. The players mobbed each other at the spot where Dynek scored.
“It always feels good,” New Trier coach Nelson Forsberg said of the title. “Never a bad feeling.”
The Trevians (30-3-2) were eliminated by Fenwick last year in the semifinals. New Trier responded this year by outscoring opponents 22-6 in five postseason victories.
This game took a sudden-death goal to decide the title, though, and New Trier scored on a designed play. Junior forward Becca Lindblad rushed in from the right side of the goal and wrapped around a pass to Dynek, who was stationed to the left of the net.
“We both knew this was our chance to do it,” Dynek said. “Becca’s taking it wide with speed, and she passed it to me right through an open slot. I just saw the top shelf, and I was like, ‘This has got to go in.’ ’’
Dynek shot it in the top-left quadrant of the net, over the right shoulder of Loyola senior goalie Mia Rascia.
“I knew I went down too early, I realized it as I was doing it,” Rascia said. “But by then it was too late. I tried standing up but it was too late.”
The Trevians scored two goals early in the second period. Sophomore forward Mia Solberg put in a rebound with 11:34 left. Then, 96 seconds later, sophomore forward Johanna Glaaser scored on a snapshot from about 15 feet out.
Loyola (13-13-5) answered three minutes later when, on a 5-on-3 power play, senior forward Erin O’Connor scored a backhanded goal.
In the third period, Loyola tied the game with 2:21 remaining when freshman forward Tess Dettling scored on a rebound from the left of the net.
With 3:06 left in the second overtime, Loyola sophomore defenseman Maggie Cusick was called for tripping. New Trier won the game, and the title, on the ensuing power play.
