Box Score BEMIDJI, Minn. – Following its 9-0 loss to No. 7/6 University of Minnesota Duluth the day before, the Bemidji State University women's hockey team put a much better effort together Saturday afternoon against the Bulldogs but failed to earn the series split after falling 4-1 in game two.
The Beavers fall to 2-8-2 on the season and are now 1-8-1 in Western Collegiate Hockey Association play while the Bulldogs improved to 6-4-0 and 6-4-0 in league play.
Junior Reece Hunt scored the lone goal for the Beavers to tie the game at one in the first period but Minnesota Duluth responded with two goals in the second and an empty-net goal in the third to finish the game with three unanswered goals.
Minnesota Duluth opened the game when McKenzie Hewett scored her second goal of the season 6:11 into the opening frame. Hunt then followed with her second goal just 2:20 later when the Beavers earned a power play after a Bulldog was called for interference. Hunt was assisted by freshman Claire Vekich for her first collegiate assist and senior Graysen Myers for her team-leading eighth point of the season.
The power-play marker was the Beavers second power-play goal this season and are now 2-for-27 (.074) this season.
The Bulldogs pulled away from the Beavers in the second period by out-shooting them 14-9 and scoring twice in the period. Mannon McMahon opened the scoring 4:49 into the frame with her second goal of the season while Naomi Rogge added a power-play marker 7:59 later.
Bemidji State would battle during the third period to stage the comeback but UMD goaltender Emma Soderberg denied all seven chances for the Beavers en route to her sixth victory of the season. BSU pulled goaltender Hannah Hogenson within the final two minutes of the period and with 1:32 to play, Taylor Anderson netted an empty-net goal.
Minnesota Duluth finished the game by out-shooting the Beavers 39-24. Hogenson totaled 35 savers for BSU but falls to 1-5-2 on the season while Soderberg improved to 6-4-0 by stopping 23-of-24 shots.
Bemidji State finished 1-for-2 on the power play while its penalty kill allowed one goal off of two chances.
In their next action, the Beavers hit the road for Thanksgiving weekend and travel to Maryland Heights, Mo., to take on Lindenwood University for a non-conference series Nov. 26-27.
Nestled in Northern Minnesota's wooden region and located on the shore of Lake Bemidji, BSU 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--