A defensive minded game by both North Dakota and Minnesota-Duluth ended in a 3-0 UMD shutout that completed a sweep of UND in Grand Forks.
The Bulldogs (8-2-0, 8-2-0 WCHA) got 16 saves from junior goalie Riitta Schaublin, who had help from the crossbar on one shot in keeping UND (2-6-0, 0-6-0 WCHA) off the scoreboard for her second shutout this season.
“My team did a good job defensively, especially towards the end when they picked up their man and [the Sioux] couldn’t get to their rebounds,” Schaublin said.
“She was there when she got tested and was very focused,” Duluth coach Shannon Miller said of her goalie.
The Sioux had several opportunities in the first period, thanks in part to a five-minute major penalty on Duluth sophomore Rachael Drazan, but they could not get any of their eight shots through. Drazan also received a game misconduct for her checking from behind penalty.
“I thought North Dakota did a really good job defensively today, and I felt like we took them lightly for the first two periods, and then turned it up in the third when we could see the finish line,” Miller said.
UMD got on the board first on senior Krista McArthur’s second goal of the series at 5:52 of the second period. McArthur took a feed from freshman Tawni Mattila and snuck her shot past Sioux senior goalie Margret-Ann Hinkley, who was making her first start of the season.
The Bulldogs made it 2-0 at 4:25 of the third when junior Jessica Koizumi fed a one-timer to fellow junior Suvi Vacker, whose blast found the back of the net for her second goal this year.
Junior Noemie Marin put in her seventh goal this season at 13:23 of the third on a misplay between a UND defender and Hinkley, who took the loss despite playing well. Hinkley finished with 17 saves.
UND coach Shantel Rivard was not available for comment.
Duluth goes home to face Bemidji State on Nov 18-19, while UND travels to St. Cloud State.
