Playing their first game in nearly a month, the UMD women battled the Minnesota Gophers to start the 2012 portion of their 11-12 schedule, winning 4-2 in the first game of the 2 game series.
The Gophers’ Kelly Terry gave them a 1-0 lead just 1 minute into the game, but freshman Jenna McParland (14th goal of the season) answered Terry’s goal 33 seconds later, with a wrist shot from near the faceoff dot to the right of Minnesota goaltender Noora Räty. The game remained tied until 10:18 of the first period, when Haley Irwin made a move past a fallen Gopher defender and stuffed the puck past Räty for a 2-1 lead. Audrey Cournoyer’s 14th goal of the season at 13:24 made it 3-1 ‘Dogs.
Minnesota outshot UMD 16-9 in the second period, but could only beat Jenny Harss once. The Gophers’ Sarah Davis cut UMD’s lead to 3-2 with a second period goal at 12:54. Jenna McParland’s second goal of the game, this time a powerplay goal, gave UMD back it’s 2 goal lead.
UMD’s defense stood strong in the third period, limiting the Gophers to just 5 shots on goal, as the Bulldogs held on to their 4-2 lead and victory over USCHO.COM’s #1 ranked Gopher hockey team.
Haley Irwin added 3 assists to figure in on every Bulldog goal on the day, while Noora Jaakkola picked up two assists.
