STEVENS POINT, Wis. - Cara Lemirande (Janesville, WI/Craig) recorded her first career hat trick to help the UW-Stevens Point women's hockey team to a 7-2 victory over Northland College this Saturday evening at Ice Hawks Arena.

From the get-go, the Pointers dominated the game scoring twice in the first period and scoring as least twice the other two periods as well. With the win, the Pointers improve to 4-3-1 (1-1-0 WIAC) while Northland College drops to 1-9-0. 

The career night for Lemirande began at the 14:28 minute mark of the first period to put the Pointers up 2-1 over the LumberJills. The Pointers struck earlier with Ellie Punnett (Hailey, ID/Athol Murray College of Notre Dame)'s goal at 3:34. 

Right out of the gate in the second period, Lemirande found the back of the net once again at 2:57, an unassisted shorthanded goal. Less than three minutes later, Mackenzie Kratch (Waconia, MN/Waconia) scored her second point of the evening, scoring past LumberJill goal tender Chloe Marshall for the 4-1 advantage. 

The Pointers found themselves in penalty trouble mid-way through the second period having committed a hooking penalty at the 8:24 minute mark. Despite being shorthanded, Ali Biagini (Stillwater, MN/Stillwater) and Logan Harper (Gurnee, IL/Warren Township) swiped the puck from the LumberJills and increased the Pointers lead 5-1 with 10:24 left in the second period.

The third period saw nearly as much action as the second with three total goals, two coming from the Pointers. Midway the third period, Harper increased the Pointer lead to 6-1, and in just a little over a minute later, Lemirande completed the hat trick at 11:41, assisted by Kratch.

The LumberJills caught the Pointers off guard in the remaining seconds of the game, scoring at 19:36, but with little time left, the LumberJills were unable to complete any kind of a comeback. 

Freshman Marit Larson (Oakdale, MN/North St. Paul) earned her first collegiate win and stopped 16-of-18 shots faced.

The Pointers continue a five-game home stand on Friday, Dec. 9 as they host Augsburg College. The game is set for 7:30 p.m. at Ice Hawks Arena.