ST. CLOUD, Minn. -- Ninth-ranked St. Cloud State overcame an early deficit with five unanswered goals to skate past Vermont, 5-1, in women's college hockey Saturday night at the National Sports Center. With the victory the WCHA Huskies completed the weekend sweep over UVM, in the final non-league game of the season for the Catamounts.
For the second straight night St. Cloud State (15-6-4) had a heavy advantage in shots, out-shooting Vermont , 39-8, including a 26-3 margin over the final two periods. But it was the Catamounts (4-17-2) who broke through first with freshman Sarah Ellins (Greeley, Colo.) scoring her first career goal just under three minutes into the contest.
SCSU's Marie-Michel Lemieux tied it at 13:24 of the first period and Felicia Nelson's goal gave the Huskies the lead two and a half minutes later. Three minutes into the second stanza, Holly Roberts and Sammi Nixon made it 4-1. At 9:16 of the middle period, Caitlin Hogan scored the final goal for St. Cloud State to extends its unbeaten streak to eight games (7-0-1).
Junior goalie Ashley Walenty (Lake Placid, N.Y.) made 16 saves for the Catamounts over the first half of the contest before giving way to Kristen Olychuck (Kelowna, B.C.), who stopped 18 shots. After allowing the early goal, Ashley Nixon finished with seven saves for SCSU.
Neither team scored on the power play with Vermont going 0-for-3 while killing all six St. Cloud State opportunities.
The Catamounts return home to host Hockey East rival Providence next Friday and Saturday with face off time both nights at 7:00pm at Gutterson Fieldhouse. For ticket information, please contact the UVM Athletic Ticket Office at 1-866-4CAT-TIX or log on to uvmathletics.com. UVM students (with a valid ID) and all Rally's Round Up members are admitted free to all home women's hockey games.