Junior wing Vanessa Emond scored two goals as part of a three-goal first period as St. Lawrence University's women's hockey team completed a season sweep of ECAC Hockey rival Brown with a 4-2 win at Appleton Arena on Friday night.

St. Lawrence pulled even at 11-11-5 overall on the season and is now 6-6-0 in ECAC play, while Brown is now 2-13-3 and 1-7-3 in league play. The Saints stayed within two points of sixth place Dartmouth and a point ahead of Clarkson in the race for playoff positioning.

"We were able to jump out to a quick start and that set the stage for the win," said Saint coach Chris Wells. "The line of Emond, Karell Emard and Kelly Sabatine was very effective in the first period and stayed that way throughout the game.

"Brown refused to fold even after our quick start and they gave us a battle right to the end. Every period is going to be a big one the rest of the way, but this was one we had to have," Wells added.

The Saints jumped on top 4:58 into the game when Vanessa Emond broke into the Brown end after a pass from Kelly Sabatine and snapped a shot which hit off the post and crossbar before settling into the net. It was Emond's eighth of the year and was also assisted by Karell Emard.

Defender Mel Desrochers made it a 2-0 game at 16:07 when she picked the upper corner after a pass from Michelle Ng for her second of the year and Emond scored just six seconds later, getting a return pass from Emard after winning the faceoff and putting the puck between Brown starter Katie Jamieson and the post.

The Saints peppered backup goalie Aubree Moore to start the second period, but the Bears scored the first goal of the period as Laurie Jolin tipped a shot by Samantha Woodward past Saint goalie Caitlyn Lahonen on a power play at 11:42.

SLU responded with a goal just 12 seconds later to regain their three goal cushion as Sabatine won the faceoff and cut to the net, tipping a shot by defender Brooke Fernandez past Moore for her 12th of the season at 11:54.

St. Lawrence, which outshot Brown 14-2 in the second period, continued its domination into the third period, but Moore kept the Bears in it with some solid goaltending and the Saints couldn't quite catch up to a couple of juicy rebounds.

The Bears cut the Saint lead to 4-2 with 6:15 to go in regulation time when Vanessa Welten sent a skipping puck toward net which hopped over the outstretched stick of Lahonen, but despite some late Brown pressure, the Saints were able to salt away the victory.

Lahonen finished with 13 saves to improve to 5-4-1 on the season while Jamieson and Moore combined for 33 saves for Brown, which was outshot 37-15 in the game.