"If you really want something, outside circumstances can't affect your long-term goal. Nothing should get in your way." Reese Gingrich, January 9, 2025
 
That apparently works well on short-term goals, too, since the senior forward for the Grand Canyon University Women's Hockey team let nothing get in her way en route to scoring GCU's last four goals of a thrilling 6-5 victory over 15^th-ranked Michigan State University Sunday afternoon at AZ Ice Arcadia. The four-goal day is a new career-high for the Dayton, Ohio, native, topping the three-goal 'hat trick' Gingrich recorded two years ago in Colorado against the University of Denver. It's only the second time in the program's eight-year history that a Lopes' player has scored four in a game, following Belle LaCombe's four-score performance January 20 last year (also against Denver). The win also snapped the Lopes' five-game losing skid.
 
The afternoon was an intertwined mix of power plays and short offensive bursts, although the first period had little of either, with the Lopes skating to the locker room after the first 20 minutes with a 1-0 lead on Peyton Hewitt's score with 2:33 left. All of that changed in the first eight minutes of the second period. GCU broke the seal when Hewitt and Kelsey Bonello set up Ava Johnson's 7^th goal of the campaign to give the Lopes an insurance goal 64 seconds in, but the two-goal lead disappeared in lightning fashion, thanks to two Lopes' penalties called in the third minute. The Spartans pounced, scoring a 5-on-3 power-play goal, then a 5-on-4 goal just 19 seconds later to square the game at 2-2. It didn't take long for the Lopes to start over, thanks to Gingrich, whose first goal of the day 50 seconds later broke the tie. Once again, though, the Lopes filled the penalty box twice in a 19-second span, and the Spartans took advantage with Asher Printzen's neutralizer with 13:39 left. Gingrich wouldn't let a shift in momentum take hold, though, giving the Lopes the lead less than two minutes later to help them take a 4-3 lead into the second intermission.
 
The third period found a less frantic pace – as well as a case of déjà vu. Gingrich's third goal on a methodical breakaway nine minutes into the frame handed GCU a 5-3 edge, but two more Lopes' penalties within the next 90 seconds gave MSU new life, and they cashed in with two goals in 52 seconds to knot it up at 5-5. Overtime seemed a true possibility until Gingrich found room and slapped a beauty past Spartans' goalie Brooklyn Maddox with 2:35 left. Despite pulling the goalie uncharacteristically early to provide an offensive advantage, Michigan State couldn't solve the GCU defense one last time before the final horn. Besides Gingrich's heroics, Hewitt had a goal and an assist, while Bonello and Jenna Sorenson contributed a pair of assists each. Lopes' senior netminder Hannah Schneidmiller withstood the Spartans' onslaught by saving 30 shots.
 
The Lopes (7-11 overall, 5-3 WWCHL) will get an extra week off to enjoy the victory before returning to AZ Ice Arcadia to close out the current four-game homestand on Saturday and Sunday, January 25 and 26. The Lopes will host an even more formidable nationally ranked opponent, 4^th-ranked Midland University, with puck drops scheduled for 3:15PM Saturday and noon Sunday.