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Issued: February 16, 2008

UW-SUPERIOR COMPLETES SEASON SWEEP OF WOMEN’S HOCKEY

EAU CLAIRE, Wis. – The UW-Eau Claire women’s hockey team had a chance to avoid being swept this season by UW-Superior on Saturday afternoon at Hobbs Ice Center. Unfortunately, a chance did not turn out to be enough as UW-Superior rode the opportunistic stick of Gina Baranzelli to a 3-0 victory.

The loss drops the Blugolds below five-hundred overall on the season at 11-12-0 and 8-8 in Northern Collegiate Hockey Association play. This is the first time the Blugolds have fallen below five-hundred since November 9, 2007 which was the third game of the season.

The Blugolds played solid hockey throughout the game, but were the victims of opportunistic play by the Yellow Jackets. In a first period in which neither team really tilted the ice in their direction, the Yellow Jackets were able to take advantage of a Blugold penalty with a goal at 12:47 of the period. Gina Baranzelli was the Yellow Jacket who took advantage of a deflection off a Blugold stick in front of the crease and slammed it into an open net. The goal was Baranzelli’s third of the weekend.

Baranzelli continued to tear the Blugolds defense apart when she tallied her fourth and final goal of the weekend at 17:26 of the second. This goal seemed to sum up the weekend for the Blugolds as Baranzelli beat Lindsay Savat (Fr.-Apple Valley, MN/Thomas Jefferson) from a seemingly impossible angle on a shot from behind the net.

Trailing 2-0, the Blugolds came out firing in the third landing 14 shots on target. Despite the all the effort, the Blugolds were unable to sneak any pucks past Yellow Jacket Goaltender Rikki Nespor as they failed to cash in on a few golden opportunities. With about 40 seconds remaining the Blugolds pulled Savat in a last ditched effort to get on the board. With the net empty, Superior’s Jasmine Pollock sealed the deal and put the Yellow Jackets up 3-0.

Savat stopped 16 of the 18 Yellow Jacket shots she saw on the afternoon for a save percentage of .888. The loss drops Savat’s record to 5-5-0 on the season.

The Blugolds will wrap up the regular season next weekend with a pair of Matinee games at UW-River Falls. The puck is set to drop at 2:00 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday.

- TT -

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