The fifth-ranked University of Minnesota Duluth women's hockey team got offense when it needed to Saturday, and the result was a 5-3 win over Minnesota State University, Mankato and six Western Collegiate Hockey Association points with a series sweep.
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The Bulldogs had four players that scored at least one goal, and three had two or more, including senior winger Elizabeth Giguere, who netted the first two goals of the game. Gabbie Hughes led all scorers with a goal and two assists for three points, and figured in six of UMD's eight goals on the weekend.
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Giguere's first goal was a wrist shot from the right circle that beat Calla Frank over her right shoulder at 8:18 for the 1-0 lead. Just under a minute later on the power play, Giguere struck again, this time over Frank's other shoulder. After playing the puck across from the left circle to Gabbie Hughes on the right circle, Hughes slung it back to Giguere. Giguere corralled it and ripped in past Frank for the 2-0 lead at 9:13.
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MSU stormed back in the second period, first on a goal by Alexis Paddington at 4:44. Then, with traffic in front of Jojo Chobak, Taylor Wemple squeezed the puck through exactly one minute later to draw the game even at 2-2.
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Hughes pushed UMD ahead again at 4:15 of the third period, grabbing the puck off the boards and driving to the net for her 15th goal of the season. Just over a minute and a half later, Clara Van Wieren redirected a shot from Mannon McMahon through the legs of a Maverick defenseman on the doorstep for her second goal of the series, extending UMD's lead to 4-2 at 5:48.
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MSU struck at 15:09 on a goal from Charlotte Aker, but UMD's Anna Klein closed the door on any Maverick comeback talk with an empty-net tally at 19:16, the senior captain's team-best 17th goal of the season.
"You know, we challenged them a little bit to figure it out, and they did exactly that," said UMD head coach Maura Crowell. "I think it was a character game for us. It's not easy to get sweeps in this league, Mankato never goes away and they keep coming at you, and obviously scored one there in the third to keep it close. Much needed goals when we needed them and loved the way we played in the third."
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Chobak finished with 19 saves in the game and UMD went 1-1 on its power play. Frank had 20 saves for MSU, who was 0-of-3 on its power play and fell to 12-13-1, 8-13-1).
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The Bulldogs will head to St. Cloud, Minn. Tuesday for a rare Western Collegiate Hockey Association midweek game. Game-time for the league matinee is 3:00 p.m.
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