Natalie Darwitz scored a hat trick to help the second-ranked Minnesota to a 5-3 win over No. 7 Brown.
The Golden Gophers scored three goals in the first period. Winny Brodt capitalized early in the game at 3:28 of the first period when she scored an unassisted, power-play goal. It was her third goal of the of the 2002-03 season. Krissy Wendell and Darwitz combined for the next four goals. Wendell scored at 12:32 with the assist going to Darwitz. It was Wendell’s 12th goal of the season.
Darwitz then took charge scoring the true hat trick, with the team’s back-to-back to-back goals. Darwitz scored at 5:06 and 19:56 in the second stanza and completed the trio at 2:05 in the third. Her first goal of the night was directly after she came out of the penalty box. Wendell shot the puck to center ice from the corner, where she found Darwitz coming out of the box. Darwitz picked up the puck and went one-on-one with Brown’s goalie, Pam Dreyer for the goal. The third goal was a power-play tally. It was Darwitz’s second hat trick in nine games.
“I was in the right place at the right time,” Darwitz said. “I had a lot of opportunities to score and I capitalized on a couple of them.”
Minnesota’s first line of Brodt, Wendell and Darwitz, combined for the team’s 10 points.
Gopher goalie Jody Horak stopped 22 saves on her way to her ninth win of the season. In nine games played, Horak has a perfect 9-0-0 record.
“We beat a very good team today,” Gopher coach Laura Halldorson said. “I’m happy with the win. I do not think we dominated Brown, but the level of play and speed has picked up since last weekend.”
The Gophers play No. 3 Harvard, tomorrow at Ridder Arena. THere will be five Olympians on the ice between the two teams; Darwitz and Wendell from Minnesota and Julie Chu, Angela Ruggerio, and Jennifer Botterill from Harvard. Brown takes on Minnesota-Duluth in a rematch of last year’s NCAA Championship game.
