News Tribune UMD/OSU SWEEP Story

College women's hockey: Trio of third-period goals propel Bulldogs
Andy Greder Duluth News Tribune
Published Monday, December 10, 2007
The Minnesota Duluth women’s hockey team got belated goal-scoring Sunday against Ohio State, but the outcome remained the same for the streaking Bulldogs.

Third-ranked UMD scored three third-period goals in a 4-0 Western Collegiate Hockey Association win over the Buckeyes at the DECC. On Saturday, UMD was punctual with three first-period goals in a 7-2 win over Ohio State.

UMD (14-3-1, 13-3 WCHA) has won six straight games and nine of its past 10.

“We’ve become a team,” UMD coach Shannon Miller said. “That takes time and over the last three, four weeks, we’ve come together and rolled ever since.”

The WCHA-leading Bulldogs haven’t lost since Nov. 18 to second-place Minnesota.

“We have been building as a team, and it took a while because we had a lot of freshmen [6], and they needed to learn,” said Saara Tuominen, the UMD sophomore center who had four points in the sweep, including a goal Sunday. “Now we have tempo.”

The Bulldogs have tallied three straight sweeps and haven’t lost a series in six weeks, since Oct. 26-27.

UMD’s first goal was credited to freshman forward Iya Gavrilova after her shot hit a Buckeye stick and went into the net in the first period. Ohio State goalie Deidre Facklis had 50 saves in her second career start.

Ohio State (8-8-2, 5-7-2) was outshot 54-21 and fell to 3-32-4 all time against the Bulldogs.

“Things were working good, but we couldn’t score,” Miller said. “We had created good opportunities, especially in the third.”

UMD played with a one-goal lead from 11:53 of the first period until Tuominen scored at 6:08 of the third.

“We were one goal away,” Ohio State coach Jackie Barto said. “We had our chances but couldn’t convert. They have a good goalie [Kim Martin], and that can make all the difference in the world.”

Martin made 21 saves, but it was UMD’s 24 shots on goal in the third period that proved costly for the Buckeyes.

“We tried to keep UMD on the perimeter, and our goalie made good saves, but then they came out strong [in the third period],” Barto said. “Their forwards are quick and go to the net. They are tough to contain.”

Freshman Haley Irwin and sophomore Elin Holmlov added goals in the thirdperiod.

The Bulldogs will play fourth-ranked St. Lawrence in Canton, N.Y., in a nonconference series at 6 p.m. Friday and Saturday. St. Lawrence swept Maine this past Friday and Saturday to improveto 13-3.

The Saints are the highest-scoring team in Division I at 4.31 goals per game, while UMD is third (3.83). The Bulldogs are fifth in goals against at 1.52, while St. Lawrence is sixth (1.62).

“I think the games will be close, 2-1 games,” Miller said. “They are going to be tight. Both teams have good goalies. Both teams will have opportunities on special teams.”