College Hockey in Minnesota this weekend, plus Soccer and Volleyball notes
(Duluth, MN) — The sixth-ranked Golden Gophers men’s hockey team secured a road series sweep at Minnesota Duluth, winning 5-1 Saturday evening inside AMSOIL Arena. Connor Kurth’s three-point night, including the eventual game-winning goal, helped Minnesota (3-1-0 overall) shut down the Bulldogs (1-4-0 overall), backstopped by a 31-save effort from goaltender Liam Souliere. It was the first sweep at UMD since Oct. 2011. The Gophers open up 3-M Arena at Marriucci on Friday against St. Thomas with a 5:30 P-M puck drop. The rematch will be Saturday night at Xcel Energy Center at 8 P-M. Elsewhere this weekend in college hockey, St. Cloud State split their series against Michigan in Ann Arbor. Minnesota State earned a split as well against North Dakota in Mankato. Augustana swept a pair from U-N-O in Omaha. In the W-C-H-A, Minnesota Duluth earned a pair of shut out wins over St. Thomas while the Badgers took both games at Ridder Arena. St. Cloud State fell twice to Ohio State including a shootout loss on Saturday. As for the Beavers, they were in Bemidji this weekend against Lindenwood and after winning 6-3 on Friday the two teams skated to a 3-3 tie in Saturday’s rematch.
(St. Paul, MN) — Earning a berth to the Big Ten Tournament, the Minnesota Golden Gophers (11-3-3, 5-3-2 B1G) defeated the Indiana Hoosiers (6-8-2, 1-8-1 B1G) 3-0 at Elizabeth Lyle Robbie Stadium on Sunday afternoon. Khyah Harper’s game-winner marked the sixth of the season for the forward. The accomplishment matches a Minnesota season record that hasn’t been touched since Simone Kolander (2015). With one more game-winning goal this season, Harper will be the Maroon and Gold’s standalone leader in the category. Minnesota returns home next Sunday to face No. 14 Iowa. Kick off is set for 1 P-M at Elizabeth Lyle Robbie Stadium.
(University Park, PA) — The No. 14 Minnesota volleyball team fell to the No. 3 Penn State Nittany Lions in three sets (16-25, 20-25, 14-25) on Sunday afternoon at Rec Hall. The Gophers (12-6, 5-3 Big Ten) hit just .112 as a team while the Nittany Lions posted a .305 percentage, the second-highest total Minnesota has allowed this year. Julia Hanson paced the Gophers with 11 kills while Phoebe Awoleye posted a team-high nine blocks. Zeynep Palabiyik led the backend with 12 digs. Jess Mruzik led Penn State (18-1, 7-1 Big Ten) with 18 kills and 16 digs while Camryn Hannah had 11 kills. Izzy Starck paced the offense with 46 assists. Up next, the Gophers heads home to host Northwestern (4-12, 2-6 B1G) on Wednesday night. First serve is set for 8 P-M.
