BEMIDJI, Minn. - Special teams play contributed to four goals, but it was the one even-strength goal that proved to be the difference in the Bemidji State women’s hockey teams 3-2 victory over the University of Vermont Sunday afternoon at John Glas Fieldhouse.

BSU went to work early after Saleah Morrison was whistled for tripping 30 seconds into the game. The Beavers worked the puck around the zone trying to find a weakness to attack in the Catamount defense, and they struck with 20 seconds left in the power play.

Annie Bauerfeld (Fr., Woodbury, Minn.) received a pass on the left side along the boards, and she passed the puck near the blue line to Ashley Leopold (So., Afton, Minn.). Leopold fired a shot wide right of the net, but Julie Rising (Fr., Millbrae Calif.) was there to deflect the puck into the net for her fourth goal of the season, giving BSU a 1-0 lead for the second-consecutive game and just the fourth time this year. Bauerfeld and Leopold both added their second helpers of the season.

Instead of taking the early advantage and running with it like in Saturday’s 4-1 victory, the Beavers had to work a little harder for the win after allowing Vermont to hang around by committing numerous penalties and giving the Catamounts a plethora of chances to score with a man advantage.

Kailee Jaeger (So., Devils Lake, N.D.) entered the penalty box 5:10 into the first period after being whistled for tripping, and Celeste Doucet tied the game at 1-1 exactly one minute into the power play off an assist by Teddy Fortin.

Lisa Kissick (Jr., Carman, Manitoba) gave BSU a 2-1 lead after she beat the UV goaltender for the only even-strength goal of the game with just 1:52 remaining in the opening frame off an assist from Jessica Tyra (So., Fridley, Minn.). Kissick rifled a shot in front of the net that ricocheted behind the goal line. Tyra calmly collected the rebound, dumped the puck back across the line to Kissick who pumped in her second goal of the season and second goal in as many games. Tyra notched her second career point, second career assist and first point of the 2007-08 campaign.

After all the frantic scoring of the first period, both teams decided to take a period off in the second, even though Bemidji State attempted 10 shots - which were the most in any period for the Beavers during the game - and the two teams combined to go 0-for-3 on the power play.

Karen Sentoff gave BSU its last chance to score on a power play when she was whistled for holding 7:31 into the final period. The Beavers used as much of the two-minute penalty as they could, but were finally able to score with just 10 seconds remaining in the man-advantage.

Haley Balcom (Sr., Elk River, Minn.) fired a pass to Erin Johnson (Fr., Farmington, Minn.), who gave the puck to Tara Hiscock (Sr., Turtle River, Minn.) near the center of the left circle of the Catamount zone. She didn’t hesitate and smoked the puck top-shelf right past the UV goaltender for her second goal of the season and second goal in as many games. Balcom added her third helper of the year and Johnson notched her first career point in what proved to be the eventual game-winning goal.

Peggy Wakeham scored a goal with 9:27 remaining in the game to move the score to the 3-2 final, and the Catamounts gave a valiant effort to tie the game up, but it wasn’t enough as they dropped to 4-11-1 on the season and have now not won a game in their last 12 attempts. Vermont had numerous chances late in the game, but Jennifer Bauer (Fr., St. Catharines, Ontario) made tremendous saves late in the game in net for the Beavers and the BSU defense held strong for the last remaining minutes - which included another penalty kill and a pulled goalie for the final 37 seconds of the game - to put the Catamounts away for the Beavers first series win and sweep of the season.

Bauer earned her first collegiate victory after saving 25 shots for Bemidji State. Ashley Walenty fell to 0-2-0 on the season after saving only 22 shots and allowing three goals.

The series sweep snapped a 16-series non-sweep streak, dating back to a Jan.12-13, 2007 series sweep over North Dakota. The non-sweep streak was one shy of tying the longest such streak in school history. The seven goals scored in the series were the most in any series this year, with the next closest being three.

Hiscock scored her team-leading 30th career goal, and she now has 14 career power-play goals, which moves her one shy of the all-time BSU record for power-play goals in a career set by Amber Fryklund (2000-03). Hiscock became the first non-freshman to score a game-winning goal this season, and she now has six career game-winning goals, which is also one shy of the school record set by Fryklund.

Bemidji State finished the game 2-for-4 on the power play, which was a far cry from its 2-for-85 numbers it had put up on the man-advantage this year. Vermont ended the contest 2-for-7 on the power play after scoring on just seven percent (6-for-75) coming into the matchup.

Hiscock, Franny Dorr (So., Roseville, Minn.) and Erin Cody (Fr., Roseville, Minn.) each had a phenomenal weekend on faceoffs. Hiscock went 32-6, Dorr was 19-7 and Cody was 10-3 on their respective faceoffs in the two-game sweep of the Catamounts. Dorr’s numbers might have been the most impressive considering she has played defense all season and moved to center on the second forward line for the weekend series with Vermont. The Beavers went 78-38 as a team on faceoffs.

Bemidji State will take this recent momentum on the road to St. Cloud State next weekend for an attempt at another series sweep against the Huskies Jan. 4-5 at the National Hockey Center in St. Cloud, Minn. The puck is set to drop on both contests at 2:07 p.m.

--bsu--