GORHAM, Maine -- Freshman goalie Liz Bergstrom (Chanhassen, Minn.) stopped 28 shots to backstop the University of Southern Maine Huskies to a 2-1 victory over the Nichols College Bison in an ECAC Women's East ice hockey game Friday at the USM Ice Arena.

            The win snapped a two-game losing skid for the Huskies and leveled their overall record at 3-3-0.  The Huskies are 3-2-0 in league, and all three wins have been by 2-1 scores.  The Bison fall to 2-4-2 overall and 0-4-1 in ECAC play.

            All the scoring in the game came in the second period.  Southern Maine grabbed a 1-0 lead at 9:47 as sophomore Bridget O'Brien (Boston, Mass.) wristed a 20-foot shot over the shoulder of Nichols sophomore goaltender Francesca Palazzo (Bernardston, Mass.) for her first collegiate goal.  Freshman Maggie Lane (Burlington, Mass.) picked up the lone assist making a nifty pass from the end boards to O'Brien.

            Less than three minutes later, the Huskies got what proved to be the game winning marker as senior Katie Paradis (Rochester, N.H.) converted a pass from junior Kailey Bubier (Auburn, Maine) into her second goal of the season.  Palazzo stopped Bubier's initial shot, but Bubier pursued the rebound to make a pass out to Paradis who buried the shot.

            Nichols got one back at 15:16 as sophomore Bridget Griffin (North Billerica, Mass.) fired home a 40-shot through a screen into the upper left corner for a power-play goal.  Rookies Kerri Nadeau (Chepachet, R.I.) and Talia Hohmann (Marina, Calif.) earned the assists.

            The Bison carried the play to the Huskies in the final period, but were unable to get an equalizer past Bergstrom who made 14 of her 28 saves in the final stanza.  The Bison hurt themselves with an untimely penalty late in the period that gave the Huskies a power play.  With the Huskies keeping possession in the Bison end, Palazzo was unable to go to the bench for the extra attacker.  Palazzo finished the game with 24 saves.

            Southern Maine is back in action on Saturday (1:00 p.m.) when it hosts Manhattanville College.  Nichols travels to Plymouth State University on Saturday (2:30 pm.).

-ble-