The University of Minnesota Duluth women's hockey team was anything but underdogs Friday night.

The Bulldogs gave the top-ranked University of Minnesota all it could handle at the Sanford Center in Bemidji, Minn., but the Gophers escaped with a 4-1 win to advance to the Western Collegiate Hockey Association's Final Face-Off championship Saturday night.  With the loss, UMD will finish the 2013-14 season with 15-15-6 overall record.

The Bulldogs took a scoreless tie into the first intermission, outshooting the nation's leading offense 10-9 in the opening stanza.  UMD then capitalized on that momentum when they struck first on the scoreboard 7:30 into the second period on rookie center Katerina Mrázová's first official goal of her young Bulldog career.  Skating in just her 16th game as a Bulldog, Mrázovå pulled the puck past Gopher netminder Amanda Leveille and beat Leveille cleanly to her left to give UMD the 1-0 lead.  

Minnesota found the equalizer as the Bulldogs were just getting back to even-strength at the 13:40 mark in the second when Kelly Terry backhanded the puck from the endline off a rebound, finding the inside of the crossbar.  The Gophers managed to outshoot UMD 16-7 in the second period, but Bulldog goaltender Kayla Black was outstanding, and the two sides would take a 1-1 tie into the final period of play.

The game would stay even on the scoreboard until the Gophers struck 7:47 into the third period on a power-play goal by Rachael Bona.  Minnesota, after clearly struggling with UMD's pressure in the first two periods of play and the Bulldogs ability to shut down its cross-ice passing, picked up its third goal 7:18 later.  The Gophers final goal of the game came with just 50 seconds remaining in the skate, with Black having just come from the Bulldog bench and not in position yet to stop Dani Cameranesi's score that gave them the final 4-1 advantage.

Black made 32 saves for UMD and was brilliant between the pipes all night.  Leveille had 21 stops for the Gophers, who advance to play North Dakota after UND knocked off No. 2 Wisconsin 1-0 in the earlier semifinal game.

"I am extremely proud of our team for making here, in the top four in the best league in the country," said Bulldog head coach Shannon Miller after the game.  "I am really proud of our league, it gets better every year and I am really proud of my team.  I thought we played very well and really strong tonight."

UMD will lose the services of two seniors to graduation in 2014.  Arguably one of the best leaders to wear the "C" for the Bulldogs, Jamie Kenyon finishes her time at UMD with 39 goals and 33 assists for 72 points in 124 skates.  The winger led the Bulldogs with 17 goals this season, a career-best and also had a career-high 31 points in 36 games.  UMD will also graduate defenseman Maddie Kolls, a transfer from North Dakota who played in all 36 games for the Bulldogs this year.