Bemidji State’s women’s ice hockey team completed a two-game series sweep of the Wayne State Warriors, opening a three-goal lead en route to a 5-1 win this afternoon in John Glas Fieldhouse.
After a scoreless first period, freshman Jenny Schnickel got BSU on the board with her first career goal at 8:59 of the second period. BSU would then get on the board again just 44 seconds later as Guylaine Hache found the net at 9:43. Hache scored again with 13:51 gone in the second to put BSU ahead 3-0.
Wayne State finally got on the board with 2:23 elapsed in the third, as Kelly Zamora beat Anik Cote for her fourth goal of the year. BSU would add two more goals in the third off the sticks of Amber Fryklund (power-play goal at 9:38) and freshman Ashley Medori (19:50 of the 3rd) to pull away, 5-1.
BSU was 1-for-3 on power-play opportunities, while the Warriors were held to 0-for-3. BSU dominated its zone, outshooting Wayne State, 38-21, for the game. At the second intermission, BSU was winning the shots battle to the tune of 31-11.
“Our philosophy was to keep going at them, and we did,” BSU head coach Jason Lesteberg said. “We also needed to shoot to score, and we did that tonight. I’m happy that our scoring was balanced. It wasn’t just one line scoring tonight.”
Freshmen contributed heavily for the Beavers tonight. Jenny Schnickel scored BSU’s first goal, Ashley Medori had a goal and an assist and Andrea Carlson assisted on Medori’s goal. In all, freshmen scored four of BSU’s 13 points on the night. Medori also led all players at plus-3 for the game.
Hache led the Beavers with two goals for BSU, her third career two-goal game and the first of the season for a BSU player.
“I felt good. Our line was doing great,” Hache said. “Our line was skating with great energy. This was my best game of the season so far.”
With the win, the Beavers continue the best start in school history at 2-1-1. BSU’s previous best four-game start was 2-2-0 in 1999-2000. Head coach Jason Lesteberg earned his second career win in just his fourth game, another BSU record. BSU’s only previous coach, Ruthann Cantile, needed 15 games to earn career win No. 2 during the program’s inaugural 1998-99 campaign.
Bemidji State improves to 2-1-1 with the win, while Wayne State’s record for the season evens at 2-2-0. Next action for Bemidji State comes Oct. 26-27 when it plays host to the St. Cloud State Huskies in a WCHA series. Opening faceoff for both games will be 2:05 p.m. in John Glas Fieldhouse on the Bemidji State campus.
