ST. PAUL, Minn. -- With goals by
Bailey Vesper (South Saint Paul, Minn.),
Chloe Lewis (Brooklyn Center, Minn.),
Jorja Jusczak (Moose Lake, Minn.) and
Merrill Delich (Andover, Minn.), the College of Saint Benedict hockey team (9-2-3, 4-1-2 MIAC) earned a 4-1 Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference road win over St. Catherine (8-6-0, 3-4-0 MIAC) Friday in St. Paul, Minn.
It was CSB's fourth straight win and moved the Bennies into third place in the MIAC. St. Ben's and St. Catherine will play again on Saturday at 6 p.m., at Ritsche Arena in St. Cloud.
It was the fourth straight game that CSB has scored four or more goals. Key to the win was a shutdown defense, led by first-year Lexi Baldali (St. John, Ind.), who shined in the net, allowing a single goal with 29 saves in dropping her goals against average to 1.48. She improved to 5-1-2 on the year and has allowed just three goals over the last 1:89.58 of time on the ice. The Bennies' defense has allowed just two goals over the past four games.
After leading 1-0 through two periods, the Bennies struck for three goals in the final period to claim its fourth MIAC win.
At 5:14 of the first period, Vesper scored an even strength goal off assists by
Camryn Hargreaves (4th, season) and
Helena Siska (8
th, season). It was Vesper's third goal of the season.
There was no scoring in the second period before the two teams combined for three goals in the first five minutes of the final stanza. At 0:42 of the third period, senior
Chloe Lewis scored her second goal of the year (13th, career) on a power play with assists from Delich (6
th, season) and
Shae Stinnett (6
th, season). The score enabled the Bennies to take a 2-0 lead.
Then, St. Catherine broke through with a goal from Samantha Bogen at 1:59 with her even-strength goal was assisted by Hallie Dunleavy and Paige Loidolt.
Just a little bit later, Delich had her fourth goal of the season for a 3-1 lead at 3:32 of the third period. Vesper (3
rd, season) supplied the assist on the even strength-goal. Then, CSB made it 4-1 as Jusczak (3rd, season) scored an even-strength goal at 11:43, assisted by senior
Presley Kraemer (Brooklyn Park, Minn.). With the assist, Kraemer now has points in five straight games and 12 points overall this season.