In 20 seconds, the No. 4/5 University of Minnesota Duluth women's hockey team dashed Minnesota State University, Mankato's upset hopes and in a span of 3:07, cruelly sealed a series sweep. 

The Bulldogs stormed back from a 1-0 deficit to score three unanswered goals just over three minutes apart late in the third period to defeat the Mavericks 3-1 inside AMSOIL Arena in Duluth, Minn. in UMD's first Western Collegiate Hockey Association series of the season.

UMD's comeback earned its third sweep of the season and first in league play and pushes its unbeaten streak against MSU to 15 games strong. 

"We showed a ton of resiliency, their goalie had an incredible game and made some really unbelievable quality saves," said UMD head coach Laura Schuler. "More importantly, as the game progressed and got going, we bought into the details and the habits that are really important to us being successful, and the more we did that, the more we started to create offense. Once we did that, one went in, two went in, three went in – really proud of them for being able to do that back-to-back for our fans and alumni. It was a great win on both days."

The Mavericks scored their first goal of the series – and what would end up their only one – 6:58 into the first period, courtesy of Taylor Otremba. That score would hold an incredibly long time thanks to the netminding work of Hailey Hansen, who had fended off more than 30 shots before the Bulldogs finally cracked her code late in the third period.

More than 40 minutes after MSU had gone ahead 1-0, UMD finally equalized at 13:45 of the third frame. Grace Sadura buried a shot in the slot over Hansen's shoulder off a one-time feed from Zoey Krock behind the goal. 

A mere 20 seconds later, Thea Johansson put the Bulldogs ahead 2-1 with her 100th career point, unloading another high shot over Hanson off a feed from Danielle Burgen. Johansson then struck again, wrapping in a rebound from Caitlin Kraemer and extending UMD's lead to 3-1 to silence any upset talk left for the Mavericks.

Eve Gascon had 17 stops on goal for the Bulldogs, who struggled to score in four attempts on the power play but won 29 of 51 faceoffs. The Mavericks, outshot 42-18 in the game – including 16-4 in the third period, got 39 stops from Hanson. With the setback, MSU falls to 5-3-0 on the season and 1-3-0 in the WCHA.

The Bulldogs (6-2-0, 2-2-0) return to AMSOIL Arena next weekend to host the No. 3 University of Minnesota in high-stakes WCHA action. 

BULLDOG NOTES: Thea Johansson becomes the second Bulldog transfer to register her 100th career point at UMD … Olivia Wallin did it last season with UMD after spending her first two seasons at Penn State … Johansson now has 57 career goals to pair with 43 assists for 101 total career points after bringing 94 (51g, 43a) over from Mercyhurst over three seasons … Johansson leads UMD in goals, along with Caitlin Kraemer, with seven … Johansson now has two games with two goals for the Bulldogs … Kraemer, who had the primary  assist on Johansson's second goal, has recorded at least a point in seven of UMD's first eight games and leads UMD with 11 points on seven goals and four assists.