Warriors split opener with Bemidji State

by Tom Balog / Wayne State Beat Writer

The Wayne State Warriors (1-1-0) had a short bench and were heavily outgunned all weekend, but fought hard to split their two-game season opening set with the Bemidji State Beavers.

"We won the game, but we may have stolen one here too," said Wayne State Head Coach Jim Fetter after Saturday’s game. "I think Delyane played well and won the game for us. You’re not going to get a lot of opportunities too, so you have to take advantage. We did it and shot the puck with a purpose today."

Skating with 11 forwards and 5 defensemen, the Warriors were peppered in a 3-0 loss in Friday’s opener.

BSU’s second line of Erin Cody, Sadie Lundquist, and Emily Erickson registered all three goals for the Beavers.

Slovakian Olympian Zuzana Tomcikova totaled 27 saves between the Bemidji State pipes for her ninth career shutout.

The Warriors did get a few bright spots in the action as junior goaltender Delayne Brian (pictured) made 30 saves and the penalty kill unit allowed just one goal in seven BSU chances.

Wayne State was outshot by a large margin on Saturday, but took advantage of their opportunities in a 4-2 victory.

Julie Ingratta led the Warriors with a pair of power-play markers.

Her first came on a deflection of a Cari Coen shot from the blueline, just over three minutes into the game.

Goal number two came near the middle way point of the second period after the BSU defense coughed up the puck deep in the Beaver zone. Ingratta calmly took the puck, skated into the slot and buried her second of the game to make it a 3-1 game.

"We started off really fast and got those two goals on the power-play," said Brian. "That gave us a lot of momentum throughout the game and we just kept going from there. This gives us some confidence for the long trips ahead."

In between Ingratta’s goals, Veronique Laramee-Paquette added another extra strength marker and Alyssa Baldin also notched an even strength goal on a 2-1 rush at 9:52 of the second to close out the WSU scoring.

Erin Johnson and Emily Erickson scored for BSU who will move on to face the #5 Badgers in Wisconsin next weekend.

Brian stopped an additional 31 shots in net for WSU giving her 61 saves for the weekend.

Alana McElhinney stopped just 9 shots for BSU.

Wayne State will play their next eight games on the road starting on Friday night at St. Cloud State and then Saturday the Warriors will face #4 Minnesota.

Photo courtesy Mark Hicks / WSU Athletics.