MINNEAPOLIS – The No. 3-ranked University of Minnesota women's hockey team cruised to an 11-0 victory over Lindenwood on Thursday night at Ridder Arena. Eight different Gophers found the back of the net, while Hannah Clark made 10 saves to record her second shutout of the season.
Minnesota struck first at the 6:39 mark of the opening period and never looked back. After winning a battle along the boards, Adrianna Milani skated through the right faceoff circle and fired low to the far side to give the Gophers an early 1-0 lead.
The Gophers added two goals late in the period, scoring at 18:06 and 18:39. First, Plosova buried a rebound in front of the net off a shot from Sloane Hartmetz. Just 33 seconds later, Maddie McCullough tipped home a shot from Rachel Piggott to extend Minnesota's lead to 3-0.
Minnesota continued its offensive surge with three more goals in the middle frame. At 10:42, McCullough scored her second of the night after Hartmetz sent a stretch pass to spring her on a breakaway. McCullough skated through the crease and tucked the puck home to make it 4-0.
Sarah Paul added a power-play goal at 17:51, deking at the blue line before skating in and firing home another Gopher tally. Just over a minute later, Graham unleashed a high shot from the left point to send Minnesota into the second intermission with a 6-0 advantage.
The Gophers erupted for four goals in the opening five minutes of the third period. Ashley Allard opened the scoring in the frame with a finish from the low slot after a feed from Plosova below the goal line. Piggott followed with her first collegiate goal, firing a wrist shot from the right faceoff circle.
Milani then netted her second goal of the night on the power play, one-timing a pass from the left faceoff dot into the net. Allard added her second of the contest moments later, finishing a tic-tac-toe passing sequence with Plosova and Paul to push the lead to 10-0.
Bella Fanale capped the scoring at 14:34 of the final period. After receiving a cross-ice feed from Jordan, Fanale gathered the puck and fired high to the near side to seal the 11-0 victory.
With the win, Minnesota improves to 6-1-0 overall and 3-1-0 in WCHA play. Lindenwood falls to 4-7-0 overall and 1-5-0 in conference action.
Quotable
"Pretty solid effort from the get-go," said head coach Greg "Boom" May. "We had some lapses, especially in the second period, and I didn't really like our first five minutes of the game. In hockey, though, it just takes one line or one player to get everything rolling for you, and then it's contagious from there. All in all, happy with our compete effort and compete level."
Notable
- Rachel Piggott scored her first collegiate goal.
- Minnesota outshot Lindenwood 60-10.
- Eight different Gophers scored.
- Hannah Clark recorded her second shutout of the season.
- Sixteen Minnesota players registered at least one point.
- Sloane Hartmetz recorded a career-high four points.
Up Next
Minnesota looks to complete the series sweep of Lindenwood in Friday's finale at Ridder Arena. Puck drop is set for 3 p.m. CT, with the game streaming live on B1G+.