GORHAM, Maine -- Sophomore goaltender Liz Bergstrom (Chanhassen, Minn.) made 26 saves to lead the University of Southern Maine Huskies women's ice hockey team to a 2-0 victory over the New England College Pilgrims in an ECAC Women's East matchup at the USM Ice Arena Tuesday night.

            The Huskies improve to 6-11-6 overall and 5-7-4 in the conference with the win.  The Pilgrims drop to 7-10-6 overall and 4-8-4 in conference play with loss.

            The shutout was the first of the season for Bergstrom and third of her career.  Bergstrom made 10 saves in the second period, and 11 more in the final period as NEC pressed the offensive attack.

            After a scoreless first period, Southern Maine took a 1-0 lead when junior forward Brittany Soar (Boxborough, Mass.) fired a shot over the left shoulder NEC sophomore goaltender Lauren Hopps (Green Bay, Wis.) for an unassisted goal 2:34 into the second period.  The goal was Soar's fourth of the season.

            The Huskies struck again when freshman forward Cassandra Sherman (North Smithfield, R.I.) picked up the rebound off a shot from senior defenseman Katie Davis (Woburn, Mass.) just to the left of the net, and poked it past Hopps to make it 2-0 with 3:25 remaining in the final period. Sherman is now tied for the team-lead in goals with six.

            Bergstrom is now 5-7-4 on the season. Hopps, 6-8-5 on the season, made 18 saves before being lifted for the extra attacker with 1:45 remaining.

            Southern Maine wraps up the regular season this weekend with conference games at the University of Massachusetts Boston on Friday (4:00 p.m.) and Saint Anselm College on Saturday (1:00 p.m.). NEC will conclude its regular season with home games against Salve Regina University on Friday (4:00 p.m.) and Holy Cross on Saturday (1:00 p.m.).

-jan-