University of Minnesota Athletics
Golden Gophers Defeat Ohio State to Advance to Championship Game
3/13/2004 12:00:00 AM | Athletics
The Minnesota women's hockey team defeated Ohio State today in the WCHA Final Five semifinal, winning 5-1 at Ridder Arena. With the win, Minnesota advances to the championship game tomorrow at 4:05 p.m. The Golden Gophers will face archrival, Minnesota-Duluth in the championship game for the second year in a row. Minnesota fell last year to UMD, 5-3.
Natalie Darwitz opened the scoring drive with a goal at 4:47 of the first period. Krissy Wendell, the WCHA Player of the Year, rifled a pass to Darwitz, who fired in the shot. Ashley Albrecht started the play and was credited with the second assist. The Maroon and Gold then added a goal at 14:43 of the first. Noelle Sutton scored her 11th goal of the season, while Melissa Coulombe had the single assist.
Minnesota outshot OSU, 13-2 in the first period. The Gophers did not allow a shot on goal until the 12:45 mark. The second shot on goal that the Gophers allowed was not until the 3:06 mark of the first.
Darwitz scored her second goal of the game, this time at 11:18 of the second period. Albrecht was credited with her second assist of the night. Wendell scored her 31st goal of the season when she scored in the high slot through the five-hole of Melissa Glaser at 19:40 to put the Gophers up, 4-1 going into the second intermission. Albrecht tallied her third assist of the game. The trio marks a career-high three points in a game.
The Gophers scored their second five-on-three goal of the game at 1:48 of the third period. Darwitz and Wendell added the assists. By Minnesota's fifth goal, Albrecht, Darwitz and Wendell had three points.
The Buckeyes avoided the shutout, scoring at 9:10 of the third. Tessa Bonhomme added her fourth goal of the season, while Heather Farrell set up the play.
Minnesota finished the night 2-7 on the power play, while the Buckeyes went 0-3. The Golden Gophers had 14 power-play shots on goal, including 11 in the third period.
Jody Horak earned her 19th win of the season, now sitting at 19-4-2 overall. Horak stopped 23 of 24 shots on goal for the win. Glaser had 36 saves and allowed five goals, dropping her to 11-12-2 this season.
Tomorrow's championship game can be found on KSNB 950 AM. Livestats and a webcast will also be available on gophersports.com.
