Saturday, January 19, 2013

DULUTH, Minn. (AMSOIL Arena) – The Bemidji State University women’s hockey team finished its four-game, regular-season series against Western Collegiate Hockey Association (WCHA) foe University of Minnesota Duluth with a 4-2 loss Saturday night at AMSOIL Arena in Duluth, Minn. in front of a UMD-record 4,095 fans. By dropping its third straight game, Bemidji State dips to 5-17-2 in 2012-13 with a 4-15-1-0 ledger in league play.

UMD became just the second team all season to sweep the Beavers on the road this season and won its fourth contest against BSU in as many attempts on the year.

Bemidji State came out strong out of the gate and earned a power-play chance just 1:12 into regulation. Molly Arola (Sr., F, Walker, Minn.) had three good point-blank chances on the opportunity to score her first goal of the season on the advantage, but UMD goaltender Kayla Black kept the puck out.

At the 5:13 mark, Bridgette Lacquette looked to have given UMD a 1-0 lead on a shot from the point that made its way through traffic, but the goal was waived off because there was a Bulldog in the crease. Minnesota Duluth’s Jamie Kenyon and Katie Wilson each rang with shots at the 7:36 and 11:20 marks, but it would be the Beavers who would strike first.

Rachael Kelly (So., F, Rosemount, Minn.) opened the scoring with 7:54 remaining in the period, lofting a shot over Black’s shoulder into the rafters of the net for her first goal since Oct. 21. The new-found momentum was short-lived, however, as Lacquette evened the score by shooting through a crowd of bodies in the BSU crease just 2:25 later.

The 1-1 score held through the first intermission and the first eight minutes of the second period, but Minnesota Duluth took the lead at with just under 12 minutes left in the frame and didn’t look back.

With 11:59 left in the middle stanza, Lauren Merkley (Fr., D, Mississauga, Ontario) broke up a two-on-one rush, but the puck bounced back to the passer, UMD’s Jenna McParland, after BSU netminder Jessica Havel (Sr., Grand Rapids, Minn.) pushed across the crease to stop a potential shot and McParland gave the Bulldogs a 2-1 lead.

Minnesota Duluth found the back of the net twice more before the second period ended, using a Pernilla Winberg snapshot to go up 3-1 with 6:37 left and a Brienna Gillanders backhander from the left circle to go up by three with just over two minutes to in the period.

In the third period, Alex Ehlert (Jr., D, Portage, Wis.) tallied her first goal since the season-opener Oct. 5 midway through the stanza and freshmen Ivana Bilic (D, Coquitlam, British Columbia) and Kaitlyn Tougas (F, Thunder Bay, Ontario) nicked power-play offerings off the post, but the Beavers could not rally to knot the score.

Abby Ryplanski (So., G, Winnipeg, Manitoba) stopped all eight shots she saw in relief of Havel in the final 20 minutes, including a spectacular diving glove robbery of Wilson with 4:45 to play.

BSU fell to 4-4-1 on the season when scoring the game’s first goal. Two of those losses have come to Minnesota Duluth. Natasha Kostenko (So., F, Fannystelle, Manitoba) assisted on Kelly’s goal and now has found the scoresheet in seven of her last nine games. BSU was shutout in the two games in which she failed to get a goal or an assist during that span.

The Beavers are off next week and will pick up play when they host Ohio State University at the Sanford Center to kick off the month of February. BSU will then finish the regular season with road series against the University of North Dakota and the University of Minnesota before taking on the University of Wisconsin on home ice.

For more information on the Bemidji State University women’s hockey program follow the Beavers on Twitter (@BeaverWoHockey or @BSUBeavers), like them on Facebook (facebook.com/BSUBeavers), or sign up for the TXTUpdates from BSUBeavers.com text-messaging system through the "Mulitmedia" pull down menu on the main page of BSUBeavers.com.

Nestled in Northern Minnesota’s wooded region and located on the shore of Lake Bemidji, Bemidji State University sponsors 15 varsity athletic programs with NCAA Division I men’s and women’s hockey membership in the Western Collegiate Hockey Association, while its 13 NCAA Division II programs hold membership in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference (NSIC).

--bsu--