Gophers Advance in WCHA Playoffs

MINNEAPOLIS (gophersports.com) – The No. 2 Minnesota Golden Gopher women’s hockey team secured its 16th-straight WCHA FINAL FACEOFF appearance by sealing a series sweep over Minnesota State with a 5-1 victory Saturday at Ridder Arena.

Junior Maryanne Menefee (Lansing, Mich.) and sophomore Megan Wolfe (Eagan, Minn.) led Minnesota with two points each. Menefee scored two goals, and Wolfe recorded her third-straight three-assist game.

After securing a 10-0 win in game one of the series Friday night, the Gophers faced a tougher Minnesota State team in the second game. The game remained scoreless after one period and Minnesota State outshot Minnesota, 15-3, in the opening 20 minutes.

The series sweep sends Minnesota (31-2-4) on to the 2015 WCHA FINAL FACEOFF hosted by North Dakota in Grand Forks, N.D., next weekend, March 7-8. The Gophers will face either fourth-seeded Minnesota Duluth or fifth-seeded Bemidji State. The Bulldogs and Beavers play game three of the WCHA best-of-three series Sunday.