STEVENS POINT, Wis. – Reigning Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) Women's Ice Hockey Athlete of the Week
Lexi Englund (White Bear Lake, MN/White Bear Lake) scored twice to lead the eighth-ranked UW-Stevens Point women's hockey team to a 3-1 non-conference victory over St. Thomas on Friday evening at Ice Hawks Arena.
Box Score Englund scored the first and third goals of the game for UW-Stevens Point (10-4-1) and
Kat Nejedlo (Fond du Lac, WI/Fond du Lac) added the team's second tally. Janna Belike-Skoug made sure the lead held up against St. Thomas (5-5-1), making 37 saves, including 30 in the final two periods.
Englund got the scoring started midway through the first period, scoring her first of the night at 9:45 from
Meredith Ingbretson (Hayward, WI/Hayward) and
Rachel Reynard (Hortonville, WI/Hortonville).
The score remained 1-0 UWSP until the 16:08 mark of the second period when Nejedlo scored on the power play with assists from defensemen
Megan Menotti (Vernon Hills, IL/Chicago Mission) and
Ellie Punnett (Hailey, ID/Athol Murray College of Notre Dame). Just 39 seconds after Nejedlo's goal, St. Thomas got a power-play goal of its own from Jeidi Winiecki to make it a one-goal game again.
However, with 53 seconds remaining in the second period the Pointers re-established their two-goal lead when Ingbretson and Reynard again set up Englund for the freshman's sixth goal of the season. Englund now has four goals and five points in the last three games since switching positions to forward.
St. Thomas outshot UW-Stevens Point 38-32 in the game, including a 15-7 advantage in the final period but Beilke-Skoug turned aside all 15 Tommie shots in the final 20 minutes.
UWSP was 1-for-6 on the power play in the game, while UST was 1-for-3. The Pointers have now won the last four regular-season meetings between the two schools.
The two teams complete the weekend series on Saturday, Jan. 10 at 2:30 p.m. at Ice Hawks Arena.
