Despite a two-goal lead courtesy of Rae Mayer that the Bulldogs held late into the third period the No. 8 University of Minnesota Duluth women's hockey team settled for a 2-2 overtime tie with No. 15 St. Cloud State University at AMSOIL Arena in Duluth, Minn. Friday night in Western Collegiate Hockey Association play.

"Obviously not the outcome that we wanted, but I think we can hold our heads up high because I really liked our game tonight," said UMD head coach Laura Schuler. "I thought we had a ton of good looks, ton of good chances and we faced a really good goalie and I thought she kept them in the game. Again, we created good quality chances and I thought Eve (Gascon) was outstanding for us, and sometimes that's hockey."

The Bulldogs put up some impressive stats in the opening period, including a perfect 12-0 from the faceoff dot, led by the six wins of Caitlin Kraemer. Midway through the frame, UMD put the most important stat on the scoreboard – a goal. Ava MacLeod's two line pass from the Bulldog defensive zone caught Mayer up the left boards, and the rookie did the rest, burying her 10th goal of the season in breakaway fashion for the 1-0 lead at 9:06.

Mayer doubled her goal total on the night late in the second period, one-timing a shot in the slot to put the Bulldogs up 2-0 at 18:36. The two-goal game is the first of Mayer's young career and her second multiple point game so far this season.

But the Bulldogs, who had dominated on the shot chart and the faceoff dot all night long, surrendered two goals in the third period 1:19 apart at the 15:45 and 17:04 marks, and just like that, SCSU had pulled even with UMD.

The third overtime game for UMD over its last six outings, neither team could score in the 3-on-3 five minutes of extra time. The game officially ended in a 2-2 tie, and after six rounds of shooters, the Huskies picked up the extra WCHA point with a shootout goal.

Gascon had 23 saves in the game and five in the shootout, and the Bulldogs outshot SCSU 41-25 in the game. UMD also dominated in the faceoff dot 43-13 – Kraemer led UMD with a 24-8 for 78% success rate on the night.

SCSU goaltender Emilia Kyrkko made 39 saves and six stops in the shootout.

The Bulldogs (12-9-2, 8-7-2) will tangle with the Huskies all over again tomorrow afternoon. The puck is set to drop at 3:02 p.m.

BULLDOG NOTES: UMD stays unbeaten in 13 games against SCSU and unbeaten on the season with a 3-0-1 record … with 3-of-6 of their last games played into overtime, the Bulldogs are just 0-1-2 in those games over that span and 1-1-2 in extra time games this season … Rae Mayer has now scored three goals over her last two games.