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St. Cloud State University
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Women’s hockey hanging tough
SCSU splits series with new head coach’s former team, Bemidji State
By Ben Birnell
Published:
Monday, October 14, 2002
Media Credit: Leslie Andres
SCSU’s Abby Cooper skates past Bemidji’s Jenny Schnickel Saturday at the National Hockey Center. The Huskies lost the game 2-1, but went on to win 4-2 Sunday.
There were a lot of firsts this weekend for the SCSU women’s hockey team.
The game marked the first behind the Husky bench for new head coach Jason Lesteberg and also first time goals for three freshmen playing for the Huskies.
Saturday night’s game got off to a rough start for the Huskies, as they were dominated, outshot and mainly out-played. �The first period was scoreless throughout and dominated mostly by Husky penalties until Bemidji State’s Alicia Kinsman scored an unassisted power play goal on a nice wrap around shot to put the Beavers up 1-0.
“In the first period we weren’t willing to work hard,” Lesteberg said. “They beat us to every puck and worked us on both ends of the ice.”
Although the Huskies had some flashes of greatness, the period was dominated by the play of BSU. Lesteberg said the Huskies had no jump in their step early on and their lack of strength showed through.
SCSU took advantage of the first intermission and came into the second period on a mission, but the Huskies efforts were not enough to stop the attack of BSU. �They struck again late in the second period when Lil Raymond put BSU up 2-0. Amber Fryklund and Sarah Zuelke assisted on the play.
With the losses of junior captain Kobi Kawamoto (leg), sophomore forward Melanie Pudsey (shoulder) and freshman Katie Hauge (ankle) so early in the season, Lesteberg felt that it hurt the flow of the team a little bit.
“No one really wanted to step up, and we got beat on everything,” he said.
In the first two periods, the Huskies looked like two very different teams. Lesteberg said his team had some very sloppy moments in the period, but somewhat turned it around in the second period.
“I was frustrated with the mistakes that we were making,” Lesteberg said. �“Everyone has a system in hockey and our (players) were just trying to play pond hockey.”
Lesteberg felt his team had ample opportunity to score many goals against BSU’s young defense.He felt that BSU’s defense was young for the Huskies to beat and they were doing a great job of keeping the puck out of their own zone.
The third period came around and the Huskies finally showed signs of life. �Freshman forward Krista Simonson scored her first collegiate goal on a power play, bringing the score to 2-1 early in the third period. �Freshman Ashley Stewart and senior Jennifer Swanson assisted on the play. �The Huskies pulled senior goalie Laura Gieselman with 1:20 remaining in the period, but it worked to no avail. �The Huskies fell to BSU 2-1 in the opening game of the series.
Lesteberg referred to the opening loss as “being ready for the wedding, but arriving at the wrong church.”
Lesteberg felt that the play of his defensemen, namely sophomore Tina Ciraulo and freshman Kelly Stewart, was good.
“Tina is an intense player, she worked very hard,” he said. “Kelly has some great poise on the blue line.”
Lesteberg felt that none of his players really stepped up, but started to play aggressively towards the end.
“We came out really slow, but picked it up towards the end,” Ciraulo said. “I just decided to step it up and told everyone to pick it up too.”
The Huskies came out flying in the first period of Sunday’s game. �The Huskies got some much wanted revenge on BSU winning 4-2 at the National Hockey Center.
Freshman Josefin Pettersson started the Huskies off to an early 1-0 lead in the first period. �The goal was also the first goal of her collegiate career on a power play. �Sophomore Carrie Holldorf and senior Abby Cooper assisted on the play.
The Huskies came out fast and furious in the first period looking like a totally different team from the day before.
Holldorf tacked on another goal to take the Huskies into the first intermission with a 2-0 lead.
BSU would turn on the burners in the second period and score two unanswered goals. �The first goal was scored by Emily Curcuruto two minutes into the period. �The second goal came 15 minutes later, scored by Kerri McEwen, to tie the game at two. Suddenly the day was turning into a wash for the Huskies.
“We lost a little bit of our momentum in the second period.” Lesteburg said. “When you’re having trouble getting the puck out of your own zone, it’s tough.”
The Huskies only recorded two shots in the third perod. �Fortunately enough for the Huskies, both found the nice feeling of the back of the net. �Freshman Ashley Stewart also had her first collegiate goal has a Husky, finding the net with 13 minutes remaining in the period. �She was assisted on the play by Swanson. The Huskies would tack on an empty net goal by Cooper to end the game with a 4-2 win.
“The first period, and parts of the third, is the way we should be playing,” Lesteberg said. “I’m happy with today’s outcome.”
Lesteberg was happy with the individual performance of Holldorf in Sunday’s win.
“She plays hard, she goes 100 miles per hour,” Lesteberg said. “I did predict before the game that she would have at least one goal.”
The Huskies next game is Friday against the University of Minnesota Golden Gophers. �The game is scheduled to start at 7:05 p.m. at the NHC. The Huskies then take a trip down I-94 and play the Gophers on their home ice Saturday afternoon. The game is scheduled to start at 4:05 p.m.
