BEMIDJI, Minn. - Lisa Kissick (Jr., Carman, Manitoba) has been on fire these past few weeks.

She scored a career-high two goals Friday night at John Glas Fieldhouse to help lead the Bemidji State women’s hockey team to its first Western Collegiate Hockey Association victory of the season. Kissick now has four goals in her last five games, and is tied for the team lead in goals this season.

The Beavers (4-16-3, 1-14-2 WCHA) prevailed over the North Dakota Fighting Sioux 4-1 in a game that was all Bemidji State from start to finish.

BSU was shot-happy in the opening period, outshooting UND 14-5.

Franny Dorr (So., Roseville, Minn.) got the party started early by scoring her first goal of the season 6:14 into the game off a nice assist by Annie Bauerfeld (Fr., Woodbury, Minn.). Bauerfeld recorded her third assist of the season, but she wasn’t done yet.

The two teams struggled to find any consistency the rest of the way, and the Beavers skated to a 1-0 lead at the end of the opening stanza.

The odds were heavily in BSU’s favor to walk away with the win after the first, considering the Beavers were 3-1-0 coming into the game when scoring the first goal and 3-0-0 when leading after the opening period.

Just in case the Fighting Sioux had any thoughts of a comeback, Kissick decided to pepper the UND goaltender during the second frame.

She scored what proved to be the game-winner 4:17 into the second off assists by Ashley Leopold (So., Afton, Minn.) and Tara Hiscock (Sr., Turtle River, Minn.). It was Leopold’s third assist of the season and Hiscock’s second.

Kissick pumped in another goal with 11:04 remaining in the period to give the Beavers an insurmountable 3-0 lead. Hiscock again assisted on the goal, but this time Jessica Pullar (Sr., Elk River, Minn.) added the other helper. Pullar now has four assists this season, and her and Hiscock are tied for the team lead for career points against the Fighting Sioux with nine each.

Bemidji State didn’t fare as well in the shot department in the period, with UND outshooting BSU 13-6, but the goals are the only thing that matters in hockey games, and the Beavers collected two of those thanks to Kissick while North Dakota (3-16-4, 3-12-2 WCHA) was not able to find the net thanks to another stellar outing by BSU goaltender Emily Brookshaw (Sr., Webster, Wisc.).

Penalties ended up costing BSU the shutout, as Julie Rising (Fr., Millbrae, Calif.) and Bauerfeld were each whistled for penalties midway through the final period.

North Dakota pulled its goaltender after the two penalties were assessed, so BSU had to try and fight off a lengthy 6-on-3, something it did well for as long as it could. Ashley Lynch eventually hit a slapshot towards the Bemidji State net at the 9:36 mark, and Brookshaw was unable to locate the puck because of all the bodies in front of her, giving Lynch the only Fighting Sioux goal of the game. Melissa Jaques assisted on the play.

UND pulled goaltender Brittany Kirkham later in the game to try and find another goal, but the Beavers were clearly up to the task of holding off the extra-attacking Fighting Sioux. Erin Cody (Fr., Roseville, Minn.) was even able to manage an empty-net goal. She received the puck near the mid-line and just fired it towards the UND zone trying to clear it with only 10 seconds remaining in the game, and it hit the left post of the North Dakota net and went in for the fourth goal of the game for BSU. Bauerfeld recorded her second assist of the game on that play, and the goal gave Bemidji State its most goals in a conference game this season.

Brookshaw was near flawless in net for the Beavers, recording 30 amazing saves while allowing just the one 6-on-3 goal. Kirkham did not have a good game at all, letting three goals get into the net while saving 26 shots. Brookshaw now has 23 career wins, which puts her three shy of the all-time BSU record for wins in a career (26 by Bre Dedrickson).

Bauerfeld had her first career multi-assist and multi-point game. Hiscock recorded her eighth-career multi-point game and her fourth-career multi-assist game.

Kissick’s two goals were a career-high for goals in a single game. She also recorded her second career multi-point game, with the first coming just two weeks ago when she had a goal and an assist against Vermont.

Ironically, all four wins this season have come when BSU commits more penalties than its opponent. The Beavers went 0-for-5 on the power play and the Fighting Sioux were 1-for-7.

Bemidji State will look to earn two more points in the WCHA when Game Two of the series with North Dakota is played Saturday at the Glas. The puck will drop at 2:07 p.m.

--bsu--