BLOOMINGTON, Minn. – First-year goaltender Lexi Badali (St. John, Ind.) of the College of Saint Benedict hockey team turned in one of the strongest weekends of her young career, and the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference took notice. After allowing just two goals over 130 minutes across a pair of overtime battles with Bethel, Badali has been named the MIAC Hockey Defensive Player of the Week.

The honor marks the first MIAC weekly award of Badali's career and continues CSB's recent run of recognition. She becomes the program's 29th MIAC weekly honoree and the second straight Bennie to earn honors as senior Presley Kraemer (Brooklyn Park, Minn.) earned MIAC Offensive Player of the Week honors on Dec. 1. Badali is also the first CSB goaltender to claim a conference weekly award since Kate Moffat was recognized on Nov. 18, 2024.

Badali's weekend showcased both poise and endurance as she helped CSB to a 5-2-2 overall record, including 3-1-2 and tied for third in the MIAC. She opened with a 41-save performance in Friday's 1-1 overtime tie—followed by a 1-0 decision on the shootout for the extra conference point—at Ritsche Arena on Dec. 5. The 41 stops marked a career high, the most by a CSB goalie since Moffat recorded 47 against Augsburg on Jan. 26, 2024, and the second-highest single-game total by any MIAC goaltender this season. She followed that effort with a 16-save outing in another 1-1 overtime draw at Bethel on Dec. 6, a game which included Bethel scoring a 2-1 advantage in the shootout.

Through seven starts, Badali has emerged as one of the MIAC's most reliable goaltenders. She carries a 4-1-2 record with a 1.55 goals-against average, ranking sixth in the conference. Badali's 25.86 saves per game sit third in the MIAC, while her 181 total saves ranks fourth. She also owns a .943 save percentage, tied for fifth in the league.

The Bennies now enter a brief break before returning to action in a home-and-home nonconference series against Wisconsin-Superior on Jan. 2–3.