For a second straight-game, the No. 9 University of Minnesota Duluth women's hockey team struggled to score on No. 14 Minnesota State University, Mankato goaltender Hailey Hanson, and Sunday, that difficulty cost the Bulldogs a trip to the Western Collegiate Final Faceoff.

The Bulldogs fell 2-1 to the Mavericks in the WCHA First Round less than 24 hours after suffering a 2-1 loss to MSU in double-overtime Saturday afternoon at AMSOIL Arena in Duluth, Minn. Despite putting up 100 shots over the past 24 hours on MSU, Hanson single-handedly held UMD's offense off in the upset win. 

"Hats off to them, I I didn't like our start, and I thought they came at us really hard and I thought that we were chasing for a bit," said UMD head coach Laura Schuler. But then once we settled in, you know, I liked our game, really liked our third period. I thought we played to the way that we're capable of playing. ?But when it comes to playoff hockey, margins are really thin and you can't take your foot off the gas pedal and you've got to be ready to play a full 60 minutes. So now you have to wait and see what our fate is."

LIke Saturday, the Mavericks jumped on the board early when a puck errantly went off a UMD defenseman's skate and past Gascon for a 1-0 lead just 3:41 into the game.

The Bulldogs responded in kind late in the frame when Thea Johansson attempted to center the puck from under the circle, and the puck deflected off a MSU stick and beat Hanson for the equalizer at 19:21.

The Mavericks went back up 2-1 8:28 into the second period, but this time, no matter how hard the Bulldogs pushed, they couldn't solve Hanson. Heavily outshooting MSU 16-5 in the final frame, UMD never found the second goal, and despite putting 42 shots on net to the 29 from the Mavericks, the Bulldogs found themselves on the outside looking in of the WCHA FInal Faceoff for the first time since 2018.

Junior goaltender Eve Gascon had 27 saves for the Bulldogs, who once again dominated in the faceoff dot 34-22, including 21-8 effort from sophomore center Caitlin Kraemer. Hanson finished the game with 41 stops for MSU and a series total of 141 saves in three games.

"I think we're the better team when we play like it, but hen we sit back, when we play reactive, when we let them go up and get a lead, it's really hard to come back from," said UMD senior captain Mary Kate O'Brien. "That's not to say like we didn't believe in it, but, you know, they're the type of team that's opportunistic and they're going to take what we give them. ?And I thought that we gave them too much. I think we have to be ready to go from the drop of the puck and you'd think playoff hockey that is no question, but sometimes that's where we fall short. So we can't really have much of that anymore. ?Obviously, it sucks not being in control of our own destiny anymore."

UMD (20-14-3), currently sitting in No. 10 in the latest NPI projection, will have to wait to see how the rest of the conference tournaments around the country shake out this week to see if there will still be room for them in the NCAA Tournament. The NCAA selection show is set to take place Sunday.