GRAND FORKS, N.D. -- Earning its second conference shootout win, No. 6 North Dakota picked up five points against No. 9 Minnesota-Duluth after tying the Bulldogs 3-3 and winning a shootout 1-0 in three rounds Sunday at Ralph Engelstad Arena.
For the second consecutive game, North Dakota (3-0-1, 1-0-1-1 WCHA) battled its way back from a deficit at the start of the third period. The Bulldogs (2-1-1, 0-1-1-0 WCHA) scored three unanswered goals in the second period, after UND was up 2-0, to force North Dakota to start the third with a one-goal deficit.
Saturday, UND scored three goals in the third to erase a two-goal deficit for the win, but Sunday saw North Dakota battle back to force a tie.
The tie gives North Dakota a six-game undefeated streak against Minnesota-Duluth, having gone 4-0-2, since the start of the 2012-13 season.
Freshman defenseman Gracen Hirschy totaled two points in the game, scoring the opening goal and assisting on Josefine Jakobsen's tying goal in the third.
Susanna Tapani also recorded a goal in the contest, as both her and Jakobsen, have recorded a point in each of the four games to start the season.
North Dakota started off completely controlling the flow of the game, outshooting Minnesota Duluth 18-3 in the first period. Even with the lopsided shots, Hirschy’s goal was the only tally of the period.
In the second period, UND continued the offensive pressure as Tapani netted a goal to put North Dakota up 2-0.
However, Minnesota-Duluth fought back and scored its first goal of the game with less than six minutes remaining in the period. UMD then rolled with the momentum and scored two more goals within a five minute span of its first, to take a 3-2 lead before the second period came to a close. Meghan Huertas, tallied two of the Bulldogs’ three goals.
As the third period began, it looked like neither team was going to score, as 10 minutes passed without either team registering a shot on goal. Luckily, Jakobsen repeated her third-period heroics as she tallied the game-tying goal with less than four minutes remaining. Freshman Amy Menke took an initial shot and with UMD’s goaltender, Kayla Black, sprawled out from the save, Jakobsen put the puck in the back of the net for her fourth goal of the season.
The overtime period saw both sides come within inches of claiming the win.
Michelle Karvinen put a backhand toward the goal early in the extra frame that slid just wide of the right post. On the opposite side of the rink, UMD’s Jenna McParland missed a wide-open net at the back post, sending the puck through the crease instead of into the twine. Overtime would end with both sides registering three shots on goal.
In the ensuing shootout, Finnish native Tapani would be the only player to finish on her attempt; giving North Dakota the 1-0 win in the shootout.
UND goalie Shelby Amsley-Benzie made two saves in the shootout, with McParland failing to get off a shot on her attempt. Amsley-Benzie made a total of 17 saves in the contest, including three in overtime.
