An outstanding game by Bemidji State freshman goalie Emily Brookshaw denied North Dakota its first series sweep of the year and ended an eight-game losing streak The Beavers were outshot by UND 36-23 but came away with a 5-2 victory thanks to their goalie’s solid play.
Brookshaw stopped all 11 Sioux shots in the first period as Bemidji State (2-8, 1-7 WCHA) jumped out to a 2-0 lead. North Dakota (3-7, 3-7) came back on Cara Wooster’s pair of goals, each set up by Liz Funk, but Brookshaw held the line the rest of way, stopping all 13 third-period Sioux shots, including several of Wooster’s attempts at the hat trick.
“We had a lot of shots, went to the net hard, and even the rebounds she was stopping,” Wooster said.
“She was as solid as a brick wall back there,” added UND coach Shantel Rivard.
Less than a minute after Wooster’s two goals tied the game at 5:37 of the second period, BSU’s junior forward Carly Napier blocked a pass at center and came in on a breakaway, which she deposited into the back of the net on a backhand deke. The Beavers led the rest of the way.
“All I was thinking was ‘You need to get this,'” said Napier of her game-winning goal. “She left the top left-hand corner for me so I went for it.”
“Any time you get a breakaway it’s a game changing moment…. Yesterday we didn’t capitalize on the breakaways and today we did,” said BSU assistant coach Jim Ingman.
Just 27 seconds after Napier’s goal, Beaver sophomore Kate Robinson put a bouncing puck through the legs of UND sophomore goalie Jenna Burdy for a 4-2 Beaver lead.
“It took some pressure off, for sure, to not be tied,” Brookshaw said. “Then I wait for them to come hit me on my hand, but they never do,” she added facetiously.
Junior Amber Hasbargen came in to relieve Burdy, who finished with five saves in the loss. Hasbargen stopped all 13 shots she faced. But he game belonged to Brookshaw. She stopped a breakaway from UND’s leading scorer Liz Funk late in the second, and she made a great glove save on a Cara Wooster deke on one of the Sioux’s three consecutive power plays in the third. Saves in tight or from the outside, it didn’t seem to matter, she stopped them all and preserved the lead.
“She is a very fundamentally sound goalie, she plays very well in the net in big games,” Ingman said.
The Beavers opened the scoring on a goal by freshman Jessica Pullar and tallied the second on a breakaway by top scorer Kelly Hart. Aimee Collins added an empty-netter at the end.
Bemidji has Minnesota State at home next weekend, while UND will go on the road for a series at Connecticut.
