UMD loses 3-2 in WCHA tournament

Following is the UMDBulldogs.com recap:

Facing the possibility of its season coming to an end, the University of Minnesota Duluth rallied to even the score at 2-2 in the third period of its Western Collegiate Hockey Association semifinal against the University of Minnesota, but it just wasn’t to be for the Bulldogs as the Gophers struck first in the extra session, skating away with a 3-2 win.

Late in the first period, Andrea Nichols put Minnesota on top when she scored a power-play goal at 19:20 in the period. Anya Miller and Dagney Willey assisted on the play.

At 4:12 in the second, freshman forward Saara Tuominen would make it a 1-1 contest with the help of freshman forward Emmanuelle Blais and senior defenseman Jill Sales.

Melanie Gagnon would put the Gophers back on top at 12:39 in the second period with an unassisted goal.

Down 2-1 early in the third period, senior forward Jessica Koizumi wasn’t about to let her collegiate career come to an end just yet, as she fired her 18th goal of the season into the net at the 4:50 mark. Tuominen and Sales earned an assist on the goal.

Just over a minute into the overtime session, Minnesota’s Gigi Marvin scored a power-play goal to end the game and send her team to Sunday’s WCHA Championship to face the University of Wisconsin.

Freshman goalie Kim Martin made 16 saves in the contest for the Bulldogs while her counterpart, Kim Hanlon, backstopped Minnesota to the win with 21 saves.

With the loss, the Bulldogs are now 22-10-4 on the season and would have assured themselves an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament by winning tomorrow’s WCHA championship but now must wait until Sunday night to find out if they will make it in as an at-large selection.