University of Minnesota Athletics
University of Minnesota
9-4-1, 6-3-1WCHA
Mercyhurst
2-8-2, 2-1-1CHA
Gophers Win 5-2 at Mercyhurst
11/11/2017 12:00:00 AM | Women's Hockey
ERIE, Pa. - Five different Gophers scored goals as the No. 6 University of Minnesota women's hockey team skated to a 5-2 win on the road at Mercyhurst to complete this week's non-conference sweep on Saturday afternoon. With the win, the Gophers move to 8-0-0 on the road this season.
Minnesota (9-4-1, 6-3-1-0 WCHA) erupted for three goals in the final five minutes of the opening period before the teams each scored once in the following two periods. Nine different Gophers had at least one point in the win led by Alex Woken (1g-1a) and Caitlin Reilly (2a), and Sidney Peters made 20 saves.
Resilience. 🙌
Hear from Coach @FrostBrad following the #Gophers' win & sweep over Mercyhurst. pic.twitter.com/tLyijxKHlx- Minnesota W Hockey (@GopherWHockey) November 11, 2017
The teams combined for 11 penalties, both going scoreless on the power play. Minnesota was 0-for-5 on the power play but scored a pair of short-handed goals from Katie Robinson and Cara Piazza while holding Mercyhurst to 0-for-6.
The Gophers got first-period goals from Taylor Wente, Robinson, and Woken to take a 3-0 lead into the first intermission. Wente deflected a feed from Nicole Schammel past Mercyhurst goaltender Sarah McDonnell to open the scoring at 15:43 before Robinson scored her first of the season with a short-handed tally at 17:09. Woken completed the first-period scoring with 49.3 seconds remaining off assists from Sophie Skarzynski and Sydney Baldwin.
Piazza scored the Gophers' second short-handed goal of the game, and the season, on a breakaway just 2:16 into the second period to extend Minnesota's lead to 4-0.
Mercyhurst (2-8-2, 2-1-1 CHA) got on the board in the second period with a goal by Sam Isbell at the 12:26 mark and the Lakers made it a two-goal game when Maggie Knott scored at the 2:24 mark of the third period. However, the Gophers did not surrender another and sealed the 5-2 win with an empty-net goal from Grace Zumwinkle with 2:13 to play.
For the game, the Gophers outshot the Lakers, 25-22. McDonnell made seven saves on 10 shots in the first period before goaltender Kennedy Blair played the remaining two periods for Mercyhurst and made 13 saves.
Minnesota returns home to host St. Cloud State next week. The Gophers and Huskies face off at 6 p.m. CT Friday and 4 p.m. CT Saturday at Ridder Arena. High school teams can receive FREE admission by submitting their rosters to gsm@umn.edu at least seven days in advance as Minnesota hosts High School Weekend.
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