Badgers Drop Bemidji State, 4-2
November 19, 2006 | Women's Hockey
Freshman Meghan Duggan scored two goals, including the game-winner, as the No. 1 Wisconsin women's hockey team completed a weekend sweep of Bemidji State with a 4-2 victory Sunday afternoon at John Glas Fieldhouse.
Seniors Bobbi-Jo Slusar (Swift Current, Saskatchewan) and Meaghan Mikkelson (St. Albert, Alberta) also scored for the WCHA-leading Badgers (13-0-1 overall, 11-0-1 WCHA), who extended their school-record unbeaten streak to 26 games.
Sophomore goalie Jessie Vetter (Cottage Grove, Wis.) needed to make just 13 saves to post her eighth win of the season and the 19th of her career.
Vetter's counterpart, Emily Brookshaw, stopped 35 shots for Bemidji State (3-8-1, 2-5-1).
Slusar gave the Badgers a 1-0 lead 6:11 into the contest. Senior Heidi Kletzien (Manitowoc, Wis.) fired the puck at the net and Slusar redirected it over Brookshaw for her fourth goal of the season.
Sophomore Kayla Hagen (Crosslake, Minn.) also registered an assist on the play, which marked the 13th time in 14 games this season that Wisconsin has scored the opening goal. UW has won all 13 of those contests.
Just over three minutes later, Duggan notched her third goal of the weekend to put the Badgers up by two. Stationed near the right post, Duggan found a rebound and knocked it in for her ninth goal of the season. Sophomores Angie Keseley (St. Louis Park, Minn.) and Erika Lawler (Fitchburg, Mass.) earned assists on the power-play goal.
Duggan's goal marked the first power-play conversion of the weekend by the Badgers on their fifth opportunity. UW, which entered play this weekend with the top power-play conversion rate in the country at 36.9 percent, went 0-for-4 on the power play on Saturday.
Mikkelson gave the Badgers a 3-0 lead with a power-play goal at the 5:25 mark of the second. Slusar skated with the puck behind the BSU net, then found Mikkelson in the high slot with a centering pass. Mikkelson snapped a quick shot that beat Brookshaw for her fourth goal of the season.
Bemidji State broke the shutout midway through the second period. Haley Balcom intercepted a clearing pass at the UW blue line and fired a low shot that Vetter never saw.
However, Duggan put the game back out of reach with her second goal of the game at the 13:34 mark of the third. Lawler sent a pass from behind the net that Duggan one-timed past Brookshaw.
Bemidji State's Kate Robinson closed out the scoring with her third goal of the season with 1:55 left in regulation.
Wisconsin finished the game 2-for-5 on the power play while Bemidji State was 0-for-2.
With her assist on Duggan's first goal, Keseley extended her point streak to six games. In that stretch, Keseley has notched four goals and seven assists for 11 points. In her previous eight games to start the season, Keseley had just one point.
Two other UW players saw their point streaks end at five games. During their streaks, senior Sara Bauer (St. Catharines, Ontario) had scored 16 points and freshman Kyla Sanders (Parrish, Fla.) had tallied six points, but both were held off of the scoresheet on Sunday.
The Badgers return to the Kohl Center Nov. 24-25 to play host to Minnesota Duluth in a match-up between the WCHA's top two teams. Both the Friday and Saturday contests between first-place UW and second-place UMD are slated for 2:07 p.m.
