On a day annually set aside for honoring the seniors of the program, fifth-year Olivia Mobley scored two goals in the first period and the No. 6 University of Minnesota Duluth women's hockey team rolled on to defeat Minnesota State University, Mankato 4-1 to pick up the series sweep.
With the win, the Bulldogs are now deadlocked in third place of the Western Collegiate Hockey Association with the University of Minnesota with 48 points (who at the time of this recap, were still playing).
"I'm super proud of our team," said UMD head coach Laura Schuler. "That was a hard fought win this afternoon, and I thought Tindra (Holm) played outstanding for us. I'm super proud of how our team came together for our seniors this weekend."
UMD turned an early Mavericks power play into a 1-0 lead 3:22 into the first period, the fourth shorthanded goal of the year by Olivia Mobley. Mobley, who skated from her own blueline on a breakaway, slipped the puck five-hole with her backhand past MSU goaltender Jessie McPherson.
Just under two and a half minutes later, rookie forward Zoey Krock followed up and in a 2-on-1 between Grace Sadura and Caitlin Kraemer, knocking in the rebound for her fourth goal of the season to give the Bulldogs the 2-0 advantage at 5:48.
The Mavericks got on the board at the 8:04 mark on Ava Guillernette's goal to cut UMD's lead in half, but the Bulldogs doubled up on MSU 1:17 later on another tally from Mobley, her 16th of the season and second of the game. Mobley took a one-time feed from Kraemer on the Mavericks' blueline and walked in on another breakaway to give UMD the 3-1 lead after just 9:21 of play.
The next 39:39 of play was scoreless between the two sides until Mary Kate O'Brien chased down a puck in the MSU zone and after turning into the circle alone was tripped up by a Maverick player. O'Brien was awarded the goal with 21 seconds left in regulation to ice the game 4-1 for the Bulldogs and lock in the WCHA sweep.
Tindra Holm earned her seventh win at UMD with a 23-save performance for the Bulldogs. UMD outshot MSU 30-24 in the game but neither side was able to score on the power play – the Bulldogs went 0-of-3 while the Mavericks, who fall to 11-19-2 overall and 5-19-2 in league action, went 0-of-2.
The Bulldogs (19-11-2, 14-10-2) will wrap up the regular season next weekend at Ridder Arena in Minneapolis, Minn. when they face the Gophers in a two-game series that will get underway Friday at 6:00 p.m.
BULLDOG NOTES: Olivia Mobley's 16 goals is just one shy of her career-collegiate season-high of 17 set her sophomore season at Quinnipiac in 2021-22 … Mobley is the first Bulldog to score four shorthanded goals since Jenny Potter and Caroline Ouellette each had four during the 2003-04 season … in fact, Mobley tied a UMD program record in NCAA sanctioned play … Maria Rooth had the all-time record of seven over the 1999-00 season, but it was not in NCAA play … in all, Mobley is just one of four players to score four or more shorthanded goals in a season … as a team, UMD now has seven shorthanded goals on the season, the most since the Bulldogs rang up seven over the 2010-11 and are tied for the fifth most shorthanded tallies in a season in program history … the Bulldog program has now three times had seven shorthanded goals in a season and has had seven or more times … UMD's record is 12, set during the 1999-00 season … Caitlin Kraemer has now registered eight points (5g, 3a) over her last four games … with two assists Saturday, Kraemer ended up with five points against the Mavericks (2g, 3a) … it also marked her second-straight game with two or more points and her third in four games … one other player besides Kraemer and Mobley had multiple point afternoons Saturday – Mary Kate O'Brien (1g, 1a) … UMD finishes the regular season unbeaten by the Mavericks at 3-0-1-1 … the Bulldogs, who have a 13-game unbeaten streak that dates back to Feb. 27, 2022 outscored MSU 19-7 this season.
