The Cinderella Story fell just 20 minutes short of completion.
 
After reaching the championship round of the Western Women's Collegiate Hockey League Playoffs for the first time in their six-year history, the GCU Women's Hockey team ran out of gas in the third period of the title matchup, losing, 5-1, to top-seeded Arizona State University Sunday afternoon in Boulder, Colorado. The loss finishes the Lopes' underdog story one step short of earning a trip to Boston, Massachusetts – site of the 2023 American Collegiate Hockey Association Women's National Tournament next month.

Friday: #3 GCU 6, #2 Utah 4

The adrenaline rush of being the underdog in every one of their weekend matchups carried the 3^rd-seeded Lopes to an early lead Friday as Annabelle Koethe found the back of the University of Utah net seven minutes into the game. Once the high of that wore off, though, the 2^nd-seeded Utes took command, tying the game with 90 seconds left in the 1^st period, then cashing in two more opportunities in the first five minutes of the second frame to take a 3-1 edge. GCU's Rory Arteaga got the Lopes within a goal midway through the period, but the Utes roared back 62 seconds later to add another insurance goal.

Then the combination of the Lopes' frantic pace (they outshot the Utes, 31-21, in the first two periods) and Utes' penalties swung the momentum. The Lopes' top goal scorer on the season, Belle LaCombe, brought the Lopes back within one before the end of the 2^nd period, then the Lopes saw multiple power-play opportunities down the stretch and used them all, getting power-play goals from Taylor Klassen, Alyssa Olson and Arteaga in the final 10 minutes of play to come from behind for the win. Lopes' goalie Hannah Schneidmiller clamped down on the Utes, stopping all eight Utah shots in the final frame, and recording 25 saves overall. Arteaga added an assist to go along with her pair of goals, and Micah Summer assisted on both of GCU's first two scores.

Saturday: #1 Arizona State 3, #3 GCU 1

The motivation to not only knock off the top seed but take out their archrivals wasn't enough to overcome an ASU onslaught that started from the opening faceoff. The Lopes were doubled up in shots on goal in every period by the Sun Devils (44-21 overall), and two ASU goals in the game's first 11 minutes proved insurmountable against the stifling Devils' defense. Koethe's goal with just over two minutes left in the second period gave Lopes' fans a momentary reason for hope, but GCU couldn't mount an offensive after that, managing just six shots on goal.

Sunday (Championship): #1 Arizona State 3, #3 GCU 1

With both GCU and 4^th-seeded Colorado State University finishing the first two rounds of play with 1-1 records, it came down to the fourth tiebreaker – goal differential – to give the Lopes the berth in the title game. They took advantage of lessons learned the day before to keep the game tight throughout the first 40 minutes. While they gave up 16 first-period shots on goal, only a power-play goal from ASU's Sam Murphy slid past Schneidmiller in the first 20 minutes. That seemed to pump up the team in purple as they outshot the Devils in the 2^nd period by one – that one coming off the stick of LaCombe to tie it at 1-1 heading into the final period.

It took a Lopes' roughing penalty early in the 3^rd period to swing things, since ASU's Flo Awde scored just 10 seconds into the power play, and it put the tiring Lopes back on their heels. The floodgates then opened, with Murphy and Sydney Paulsen scoring within 75 seconds of each other to break open the game and ultimately hand ASU the trophy. Schneidmiller saved 38 shots in goal for the Lopes, and Reese Gingrich was the only Lopes to record an assist in each game of the weekend.

Arteaga was voted onto the WWCHL All-Rookie Team as she closed out her freshman campaign, while two Lopes' seniors, Koethe and Sydney Boucher, earned 2^nd Team All-WWCHL honors.

"Our seniors really put us on the map," said Lopes' Head Coach Natalie Rossi. "They're such a big reason why we've made so much progress-not just this year but the past couple of years, so a big 'thank you' to them."
 
The Lopes finished the 2022-23 season with an overall record of 10-12-1 - the most wins in a single season in the history of the program.
 
"It really shows our growth over the last six years, and shows where we're going," said Rossi. "It also shows and that we understand we need to continually improve every year, since that's what we've done."