Junior forward Josefine Jakobsen skates in last weekend’s series against St. Cloud State. Photo by Chester Beltowski/The Dakota Student.

Coming off a sweep of St. Cloud State last weekend, the UND women’s hockey team will face WCHA rival Bemidji State this weekend as it continues its series of games at home — now sitting at its highest ranking yet in program history at No. 3 in the nation.

Freshman goaltender Lexie Shaw was named WCHA Women’s Defensive Player of the Week for the week of Jan. 22 after posting her first career shutout in a 4-0 win over the Huskies last Friday.

Despite the shutout, Shaw is still focused on what she can do better.

“It’s always great to get a shutout — it’s a big confidence booster — but you really only can go up from there,” Shaw said. “This week at practice, (we’re) really focusing on working hard and just trying to get another one. We’ve been rotating since I started playing, and I think we’re going to continue to rotate for the next couple weeks.

“It’s been just a building point, so we just have to improve on that so I can keep playing the game and hopefully keep starting.”

As a freshman goaltender trying to focus on making the transition to college hockey, Shaw said she didn’t think she would actually be starting in goal her first year at UND.

“(It was) exciting,” she said. “I didn’t expect to be coming in and starting, but I’ve worked really hard, and it’s been a really great surprise. I’ve just got to go from there.”

Shaw said part of the transition working so well was the coaching staff at UND and the facilities that North Dakota has to offer.

“The facilities were really great, so that was a big factor,” Shaw said. “We have a great coaching staff here. We have great people to work with. When I came and visited with the team— the team was awesome and also the atmosphere here. I just knew that work ethic here at UND was a great club, so that was a really big factor.”

With Shaw competing against other goaltenders on the team for a spot between the pipes, her physical and mental preparation are key each week.

“Mentality is part of it, but you just have to be mentally tough,” she said. “You can’t go into a weekend expecting to play both games, but if that does happen you just have to be ready.”

UND will face Bemidji State this weekend. The games will take place Friday and Saturday night at 7:07 p.m. at Ralph Engelstad Arena.

Mariah Holland is a staff writer for The Dakota Student. She can be reached at [email protected]