UND defenseman Tanja Eisenschmid leaves Monday for Russia, where she’ll compete for Germany in the Olympic Games.
She’ll leave on a high note, too, after scoring the game-winner for UND on Saturday night in a 2-1 WCHA win over Bemidji State at Ralph Engelstad Arena - a gritty win that keeps North Dakota on track in its quest to make the NCAA playoffs.
“It’s always nice to score the game-winner, but because I leave on Monday, it feels even better,” said Eisenschmid.
UND capped the WCHA series on a high note as well, rallying from a 1-0 deficit and then protecting its one-score advantage in the closing minutes. On Friday, UND settled for a 3-3 tie after it couldn’t hold a two-goal lead in the final period.
The weekend was successful for UND despite playing without Michelle Karvinen and Susanna Tapani, who already have left for Russia to play for the Finnish national team. Also, North Dakota was missing Megan Dufault, who is out with an injury.
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“With people missing, we’ll take it,” said UND coach Brian Idalski. “I was proud of our kids to take that one. It was a tough game.”
Bemidji took a 1-0 lead on Rachael Kelly’s breakaway goal at 6:48 of the first.
UND, however, tied it at 1-1 on Josefine Jakobsen’s goal at 3:11 of the second period.
The Beavers held a 6-5 advantage in shots after the first period. The game, however, began to turn in the second period as North Dakota began to apply more pressure.
“We knew once they got the lead they’d defend extremely well and we’d face three players back in the neutral zone,” said Idalski. “We got more aggressive on the forecheck and wanted to get after them. We rolled all four lines for a while so we could be fresh. We started to get a little more excitement in the game.”
And UND, ranked No. 3 in the country, managed to withstand some late Bemidji pressure to improve to 13-4-3-2 in the WCHA and 16-5-3 overall.
Eisenschmid’s game-winner was briefly reviewed by the officials. Her goal was assisted by Lisa Marvin and Layla Marvin.
“Lisa went to the blue line and I called for the puck,” said Eisenschmid. “She gave me a beautiful pass. I shot it on the short side and it went in.”
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UND also had a 28-14 advantage on shots on goal.
UND’s attention now shifts toward top-ranked Minnesota, which comes to The Ralph next weekend for a two-game WCHA series.
