Nov. 13, 2004
[box score]
BEMIDJI, Minn. - Behind two goals from Alycia Wilson Minnesota State (3-5-2 / 3-5-2 WCHA) secured a 4-2 win and series sweep of the Bemidji State women’s hockey team (2-10-0 / 1-9-0 WCHA) Saturday afternoon at the John S. Glas Fieldhouse. Junior Carly Napier (Toronto, Ontario) recorded her third consecutive multi-point performance with a goal and and an assist in a losing effort.
After a scoreless first period Minnesota State put two goals on the board in the first six minutes of the second stanza. Kristina Bunker and Autumn Conway each tallied their first markers of the season at 2:55 and 5:29 to give the Mavericks a 2-0 lead.
BSU junior defenseman Sarah Zuelke (Chaska, Minn.) netter her first tally of the year, a power-play goal at 18:48 of the second period. Junior Aimee Collins (Pilot Mound, Manitoba) centered a pass from behind the MSU net to Zuelke who snapped home her second point in two games. Carly Napier was also credited with an assist on the goal, the fourth of her sophomore campaign.
The game remained scoreless until the middle of the final frame, as Minnesota State’s Alycia Wilson tallied two lamplighters in a span of just over three minutes. Wilson’s goals came at 8:28 and 11:32 of the period and gave the Mavericks a commanding 4-1 advantage.
Bemidji State cut the Minnesota State lead to 4-2 with 6:47 left in the contest when Napier took a Nikki Eckebrecht (Toronto, Ontario) pass that bounced off the boards and skated in near the right circle and fired a shot past MSU netminder Laura Brennan to push Napier’s season-goal total to three and her point-output to seven. The two-point effort by Napier not only solidified her third straight multi-point game, but it moved her into a tie for second on the team’s scoring chart with Eckebrecht at seven points. Eckebrecht’s helper improved her consecutive point-scoring streak to four games as well.
Despite holding a 6-on-5 advantage after pulling goalkeeper Jill Luebke (Neenah, Wis.) with 1:37 remaining in the game, the Beavers were unable to solve Brennan and the Mavericks in the final seconds, allowing MSU to garner a 4-2 triumph.
Bemidji State compiled a slight edge over Minnesota State in shots, as the home team produced 22 compared to 20 by MSU.
Luebke dropped to 1-6-0 in her junior year after making 16 saves, while Brennan notched her first win of 2004-05 for the Mavericks by turning away 20 BSU shots.
The Beavers will travel to Columbus, Ohio, next weekend for a pair of games against Ohio State on Friday, Nov. 19 and Sunday, Nov. 21. Opening face off is at 7:05 p.m. Friday and 12:05 p.m. Sunday.
Notes: After Sarah Zuelke’s power-play goal Saturday, Bemidji State has scored a power-play tally in a school-record five consecutive games. Minnesota State improves to 11-8-5 versus Bemidji State and 6-0-3 in its last nine meetings against the Beavers.
