University of Minnesota Athletics
University of Minnesota
Minnesota State
Francis Tallies Four Points in 4-1 Win
1/31/2010 12:00:00 AM | Women's Hockey
Brittany Francis contributed on every goal as she scored a goal and three assists to lead the No. 2 University of Minnesota women's hockey team to a 4-1 win over Minnesota State, tonight at Ridder Arena. For the second-straight night, the Golden Gophers (21-3-4 overall and 17-2-3 in the WCHA) had four different goal scorers. With the win and yesterday's 4-2 win over the Mavericks, the Gophers swept their 10th series of the year.
Francis started the Gophers off in the right direction when she scored the lone goal in the first at 13:39. Megan Bozek brought the puck into the zone and fired off a shot, which was saved, but Francis was there for the follow-up to score her eighth goal of the season. Minnesota only allowed five shots on goal to their 13.
MSU's Lauren Smith scored a goal at 7:37 in the second to tie the game, but Emily West quickly gave the Gophers their second lead of the game when she scored a power-play goal at 9:30 in the second. The assists went to Francis and Sarah Erickson. West received a pass from Francis as she was sitting right in front of the goalmouth and buried her 17th goal of the season. She is now at 99 career points, one shy of making her 100th career point.
The Gophers added to their lead when Terra Rasmussen scored a rebound goal at 4:34 in the third, again with an assist from Francis. Minnesota then scored at 15:37 to put the game at the 4-1 final. Anne Schleper took advantage of a screen in front of the net when she scored the Gophers' second power-play goal of the game. Schleper was assisted by Francis and Erickson.
Alyssa Grogan was in net for the Gophers and collected her seventh win of the season. She now sits at 7-1-0 on the season. Grogan had five saves in the first, 10 in the second and eight in the third for a three-period save total of 23. MSU's Alli Altmann had 12 saves in the first, seven in the second and eight in the third for 27 saves and falls to 4-12-4 on the season.
Minnesota travels to Duluth, Minn., next weekend to take on arch rival, No. 5 Minnesota Duluth. Both games are set for 7:07 p.m. starts at the Duluth Entertainment and Convention Center. The series marks a battle between No. 1 and No. 2 in the WCHA next weekend.
