Lopes' Head Coach Natalie Rossi doesn't need to wait a week to find reasons to give thanks.

Two well-choreographed goals from her team's offense – combined with some of the better defensive play of the season for the Grand Canyon University Women's Hockey team – added up to a surprise 2-2 overtime tie with 11^th-ranked Midland University from Nebraska Thursday night at AZ Ice Peoria. It was the second tie ever for the Lopes in their brief history, and it continued to build momentum off the team's first-ever win, a 1-0 victory over Arizona State in Colorado November 5.

It was virtually impossible to tell which team entered the contest with nine more victories on the season than the other, since the Lopes (1-10-2) controlled the pace of play much of the night against the Warriors (10-4-1), and outshot Midland for the first 49 minutes of the game.

There was only one time all night that GCU gave any indication that having 11 days off between games might be a detriment. Midland's MacKenzie Bertolas flipped a lazy shot that went through traffic and slipped past GCU goalie Haylee Gannaway less than three minutes into the game to give the Warriors a 1-0 lead they carried to the end of the period.

If seeing that goal happen gave the Midland bench a sense of confidence about what their offense would do the rest of the night, they'd discover how temporary that feeling was as Gannaway's focus immediately skyrocketed after that score. "Knowing that that goal is your fault is tough," said Rossi about her goalie. "Seeing her come back the rest of the game with her great attitude, and to make some of the saves she made the rest of the way, she did a great job leading the way as an anchor." Gannaway allowed just one Warrior goal over the final 62 minutes (one in which she was knocked over as it hit the net), and recorded 26 saves.

Once Gannaway and the rest of the Lopes' defense tightened, the Warriors' offensive opportunities dried up quickly, since they had just four shots on goal in the entire second period. They also had four second-period penalties, which gave the Lopes the opportunity they needed to get on the board.  Midway through the period, with GCU on the power play, the Lopes' Jenna Kimbrel pirouetted beautifully to shed her defender, and fired a 15-foot shot past MU goalie Miranda Bestul to tie the score at one. Midland broke the tie just three minutes later, but once again, the Lopes strengthened their collective resolve instead of hanging their heads. "We know how to play when we're behind. We've done it a lot," giggled Rossi. "The girls' attitude was great. They're like, 'All right, we're down one? Let's go.  It's one goal. We've got it.' They play. They rise to the challenge."

The challenge was met with just under nine minutes left in regulation as GCU's Emily Exner weaved through Midland traffic with the puck, and took advantage of a crowd in front of the Warriors' net, blasting a shot from 20 feet that slipped past Bestul to knot the game at 2-2. The success of the play was a surprise to most in the arena, but not Rossi. "When (Emily) was recruited, she called me, and said, 'Coach, I'm not going to score 'beautiful goals', but I'm going to score those kind of 'dirty goals'.'  She's been true to her word."

From there, even though it appeared the Lopes were tiring a bit, the Warriors simply couldn't break through. The Warriors found numerous scoring opportunities over the last five minutes of regulation, including a Midland 2-minute power play that was spent entirely in GCU's zone, but never came close to cashing in. The five-minute overtime was mostly a war of defense that kept the final score intact.

The Lopes are now off until Sunday, while Midland will stay busy on this western trip with games against Arizona State University in Tempe each of the next two nights before heading back to AZ Ice Peoria for that 8:30 am Sunday tilt against the Lopes. Surprisingly, even though it will be just GCU's second game in 14 days, Rossi welcomes the extra rest for her team. "Rest will do us well. We're doing some great community service Saturday morning, then having a big team Thanksgiving dinner for some bonding.  Knowing that the girls are still coming together, it will be a good two days off for us." Admission to Sunday's game is FREE.