MANKATO, MINN. --- The University of North Dakota women's hockey team settled for a 3-3 tie Saturday afternoon with Minnesota State, Mankato, at the All Seasons Arena. The Fighting Sioux would top the Mavericks 4-3 in the ensuing shootout.
The Mavericks celebrated their senior day before the game, honoring its six seniors on the roster, which may have sparked them early in the contest.
After yesterday's game had a total of 46 shots, both team's got off to an accelerated start as UND edged the Mavericks 15-14 in shots in the period - but MSU scored two goals within a minute span to put the Sioux in a major hole early.
It was senior Emmi Leinonen who scored first, swatting a puck out of midair past UND netminder Stephanie Ney (100 Mile House, British Columbia) at 10:44 of the first period. A referee emphatically signaled no goal for a high stick, but it was reviewed and ruled to be below the cross bar.
Minnesota State quickly added to the lead on the next shift as Lauren Zrust pushed a rebound past Ney only 55 seconds later.
Monique Lamoureux-Kolls (Grand Forks, N.D.) cut the lead to one before the first intermission, scoring UND's first power-play goal of the game at 15:08.
The power-play would strike again for the Sioux to even the game at 2-2 late in the second period. Jocelyne Lamoureux (Grand Forks, N.D.) skated the puck in on net from the near faceoff circle and beat MSU backstop Alli Altmann to the short side at 18:04.
The lead was short lived however, as MSU would regain the lead as Lauren Smith found back of the net on a backdoor pass from Emilia Andersson just under a minute after the Sioux tied the game.
Michelle Karvinen (Rodovre, Denmark) redirected a Candace Molle (Anchorage, Alaska) shot past Altmann to again even the game at 5:02 of the third period.
UND dominated the third period, but was unable to score more than the one goal, as it outshot the Mavericks 16-2 in the period for a 40-26 advantage in the game.
After a scoreless overtime, it was a scoring frenzy in the shootout as UND scored on all four of its attempts and MSU scored on its first three before Ney would make the winning save in the fourth round.
Although winning the shootout, there was more smiles on the Mavericks side of the ice then on North Dakota's bench.
UND's top-3 leading scorers in Lamoureux, Lamoureux-Kolls and Karvinen combined for all of UND's goals and eight of its nine combined points in the game.
North Dakota will conclude the regular season in a huge series in the NCAA National Tournament picture, although having already wrapped up its No. 3 seeding in the first round of the WCHA playoffs.
The Fighting Sioux will host Bemidji State for the second consecutive season. The Beavers took UND into overtime of the third and decisive game before the Sioux clinched their first playoff series and advanced the the Final Face-Off for the first time in program history.
~UND~
