Despite a shortened roster and rearranged linechart, the No. 5 University of Minnesota Duluth women's hockey team took care of Western Collegiate Hockey Association business Friday afternoon, defeating No. 10/11 St. Cloud State University 5-3 inside the Herb Brooks National Hockey Center in St. Cloud, Minn.
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Confidently backstopped by freshman Sophie Villanueva and her 31 saves en route to her first collegiate win, the Bulldogs got five different goals from five different players, including balanced scoring off their top-three lines. In all, 10 players landed on the scoresheet, while senior forward Thea Johansson led the team with two points on a goal and two assists.
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St. Cloud State got on the board first, however, just 2:58 into the opening frame. The high-scoring first period started quickly for the Huskies on a goal off the rebound by Laura Zimmermann to put SCSU ahead 1-0 early.
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But the Bulldogs followed that with three unanswered goals – more than they had scored in all of their previous first periods combined. It started with Molly Cole intercepting a SCSU errant pass in the slot and burying the game-tying tally at 7:51.
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UMD then struck twice just 14 seconds apart at the end of the period. Rae Mayer skated around a Huskies defenseman on the right side and then just ripped the puck past SCSU goaltender Jojo Chobak at 19:14 for the 2-1 lead.
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14 ticks of the clock later, Thea Johansson backchecked and intercepted the puck on her own blueline before skating across all three lines and chipping the puck over Chobak's right shoulder from the left dot to extend UMD's advantage to 3-1.
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After the Huskies opened the second period with a goal at 3:19, Grace Sadura responded at the 10:50 mark with a nasty wrist shot to build back up the Bulldogs lead to 4-2.
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UMD's two-goal lead would last through the second period, but again, just 1:02 into the third period, SCSU scored again to make it a one-goal game. But the Bulldogs struck again on the odd man rush at the 15:35 mark, a brilliant 2-on-1 between Ava MacLeod and Danielle Burgen that Burgen finished one-time for her second goal of the season, and more importantly, UMD's fifth of the game.
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The Huskies outshot the Bulldogs in the first two periods of play 22-14, but both sides put 12 shots on net in the third. SCSU finished with a 34-26 shot on goal advantage, and it's the first time this season in four games UMD has won a game despite being outshot by its opponent. The Bulldogs went 1-of-4 on their power play while holding the Huskies scoreless in two attempts. Despite missing faceoff leader Caitlin Kraemer, UMD out dueled SCSU from the dot 31-25.
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Villanueva was impressive in the first start of her collegiate career, making 31 saves and holding down a .912 saves percentage. The Bulldogs chased one-time teammate Chobak out of the net in the first period with just four saves on seven shots, and got 17 stops from goaltender Paige Hoogendam. The Huskies fall to 4-7-0 overall and 1-6-0 in WCHA action.
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The Bulldogs (7-4-0, 3-4-0) will try to pick up the series sweep tomorrow afternoon in St. Cloud, Minn. at 1:00 p.m.
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BULLDOG NOTES: UMD was without junior goaltender Eve Gascon and sophomore center Caitlin Kraemer, who are both at Canadian Olympic Camp this week … Friday was the first game this season Gascon didn't start for the Bulldogs … Kraemer, who leads UMD in scoring with 12 points on eight goals and four assists, was tied in goals by Thea Johansson, who registered her eighth goal of the season in the first period … The Bulldogs opening period goal total of three was more than the squad has scored in all 10 of their previous first frames … UMD entered the series having scored only twice in the first period until Friday … the Bulldogs have now scored four or more goals six times this season … UMD is now unbeaten in its last 11 games against St. Cloud St. and has now won six-straight contests over the Huskies.
