University of Minnesota Athletics
University of Minnesota
23-8-2,18-8-2-1WCHA
North Dakota
18-11-3,16-10-2WCHA
Gophers Fall in Regular Season Finale
2/20/2011 12:00:00 AM | Women's Hockey
With the loss, the Gophers and Minnesota Duluth finish the regular season tied for second in the Western Collegiate Hockey Association. Heading into the playoffs, the Bulldogs hold the tiebreaker by head-to-head competition (UMD went 2-1-1 against Minnesota this year) and will have the overall second seed in the WCHA tournament.
With the third seed, Minnesota will host Ohio State next weekend at Ridder Arena. In a best two-out-of-three series, the Gophers and Buckeyes will play at 6 p.m. Friday, 5 p.m. Saturday and 4 p.m. Sunday (if needed).
The Gophers got on the board early at 3:07 in the first period when Anne Schleper scored a power-play goal. Jen Schoullis started the play behind the net and passed it to Erickson, who brought it into the left circle. Erickson found Schleper just inside the blue line between the circles and fired a shot. It was Schleper's eighth goal of the season. Minnesota visited the box five times in the first, but did not give up a goal.
UND tied the game at 14:33 in the second when Jocelyne Lamoureux scored a power-play goal of her own. She capitalized on a rebound attempt, while Alyssa Wiebe and Monique Lamoureux-Kolls assisted on the play.
Kelcey Ketcher gave UND its first lead of the weekend when she shot deflected off of a Gopher skate. It went up into the air and over Gopher goalie Noora Raty's head for the goal.
Minnesota responded when Jen Schoullis scored her 14th goal of the season at 5:34 in the third. The puck went off Schoullis' skate, while Megan Bozek and Erickson assisted on the play. UND, however, regained the lead when Alyssa Wiebe scored at 8:09 in the third. Stephanie Roy added to the lead at 13:27 to put the game at 4-2. Schoullis scored her second goal of the game at 17:55 in the third with the assists going to Kelly Terry and Megan Bozek. The goal put the Gophers within one, but UND's Mary Loken scored an unassisted goal at 18:37 to put the game at 5-3.
The Gophers attempted a comeback when they pulled Raty with 1:18 remaining, but couldn't capitalize with the extra attackers. Minnesota hit two pipes in the third period. Schoullis rang the right pipe, while Bozek hit the crossbar.
In all, Minnesota and North Dakota combined for 20 penalties for 40 minutes. Minnesota was 2-for-6 with the extra player, while UND went 3-for-10 and had 12 shots on goal.
