SUPERIOR, Wis. – The Yellowjacket women's hockey team opened its season with a win over Lawrence Friday night, and a few hours later they were back at Wessman Arena with their eyes on a series sweep. It wasn't going to be easy, however, with the much-improved Vikings looking to salvage a weekend split before heading home to eastern Wisconsin.
 
Things went the Yellowjackets' way Saturday, as the team came out hard and employed a balanced attack to defeat the Vikings 3-1 in a snappy 1:59 minutes, to sweep the season-opening series at home.
 
With the win, the Yellowjackets (2-0-0, 0-0-0 WIAC) have now swept their season-opening series for the fifth year in a row.

Friday night the Yellowjackets didn't find the back of the net until the close to the midway point of the second period, but Saturday was different story, with UWS breaking through first.
 
Transfer Libby Kamp (Bloomington, Minn./Holy Family) got things started, pouncing on a rebound to the left of Lawrence goal for her first goal as a Yellowjacket, making it 1-0. Andrea Stelling (Sioux Falls, S.D./Eaton Rapids (Mich.)) and Jada LeBlanc (Thunder Bay, Ontario/Westgate Collegiate and Vocational Institute) assisted on the goal at 11:30 of the first period.
 
The Yellowjackets extended the lead early in the second period. UWS put a flurry of shots on the Lawrence goal, and the exchanged ended with Jenna Hoops (Woodbury, Minn./Visitation School) scoring her first goal of the year, burying a rebound at the right of the Lawrence goal to push the 'Jackets in front 2-0 at 3:23. Ashton Parnell (Cambridge, Minn./Cambridge-Isanti) and Cora Coz (Elk River, Minn./Elk River) assisted.
 
It stayed that way until late in the period. The Yellowjackets were on their first, and only power play of the game when a puck near the goal was put home by Brynn MacLean (Wilcox, Saskatchewan/Athol Murray College of Notre Dame). The junior picked up her second of the year on an assist from Darbie Mattson (Atikokan, Ontario/Atikokan) at 17:31, and the Yellowjackets were up 3-0 after two periods.
 
Lawrence would break the Yellowjacket shutout at 8:29 of the third when Laney Martens scored, cutting the lead to 3-1.
 
The Vikings would call their timeout and pull their goaltender with just under three minutes to play in regulation time. They had the puck in the Yellowjacket zone for much of the rest of the game, but the Yellowjacket defense was sound, preserving the two-goal win.
 
For the second game in a row, Rose Beeman (Minneapolis, Minn./Benilde-St. Margaret's School) got the start in goal and picked up the win, improving to 2-0-0 on the year. Beeman finished the game with 16 saves. The Yellowjackets outshot Lawrence 37-17 for the game.
 
The Yellowjackets will be on the road Friday when as they continue non-conference play with a trip to Hamline. The opening faceoff is set for 7 p.m. at TRIA Arena in downtown St. Paul.