LEWISTON – The play was designed perfectly. A faceoff win, and pass off the boards, and a breakaway.

Cheverus forward Emily Sawchuck grabbed the puck off the boards and went in alone on Lewiston goalie Stephanie Belanger. Her wrister glanced off Belanger’s pads and into the corner with 40 seconds to play.

“We did everything on that play perfectly except put the puck in the net,” Cheverus coach J.P. Lavoie said.

Belanger’s pad save – one of her 18 saves on the afternoon – helped Lewiston earn a 1-1 tie with Cheverus at the Androscoggin Bank Colisee on Monday. Lewiston still hasn’t defeated Cheverus in recent memory.

But this time, the Blue Devils didn’t lose, either.

“You always want the win, but when you’re at that point, you’ll take the tie,” Lewiston coach Ron Dumont said. “We’ve never been able to beat Cheverus since I’ve been here. We just couldn’t get over the hump, but I think we took a big step today.”

Both the Blue Devils (12-1-2) and the Stags (10-1-1) are among the elite teams in their respective conferences, and the long-delayed meeting gave each a chance to work against some tougher competition.

“It’s always tough to play here at the Colisee,” Lavoie said. “They have a very good team, and it’s great to have a chance to see them. We know we have a long way to go if we plan on seeing them again down the road, but this was a good chance to see what we might be up against later on.”

Lewiston raced out to a 1-0 lead, getting a power play goal from Emilie Cloutier just 1:26 into the contest when Cloutier rammed home a rebound on her backhand at the left post.

“I didn’t think we got out of the gate as well as we could have,” Dumont said. “It was nice to get the first one, though.”

Cheverus responded in kind 35 seconds into the second frame, when Maggie Grindatti scored a similar goal, on a backhand rebound at the left post.

“We played really well to begin that period, but not so well in the second half of that period,” Lavoie said. “They stepped it up defensively, too.”

Cheverus goalie Sandrine Lanouette was perfect after allowing that first-period goal, stopping 16 of 17 shots on the afternoon, including a Marisa Zamrock breakaway early in the third period. Zamrock was alone from the blue line, deked three times and still caught Lanouette’s left pad on her shot attempt.