Minnesota-Duluth beats Minnesota, will face Cornell for NCAA women’s hockey championship

Minnesota-Duluth to face Cornell for hockey title

MINNEAPOLIS — Under-appreciated Cornell isn’t done proving itself against the nation’s best college hockey programs.

Capitalizing on their first Frozen Four appearance, the Big Red have only one more team to turn into a believer — record-setting Minnesota-Duluth.

Catherine White scored the game-winner 13:14 into overtime as Cornell beat top-seeded Mercyhurst 3-2 in Friday’s first semifinal, setting up Sunday’s game with Minnesota-Duluth for the NCAA women’s hockey championship. The Bulldogs advanced with a 3-2 win against Minnesota on the strength of two goals from Emmanuelle Blais.

The Big Red (21-8-6) are in new territory. Second-seeded Minnesota-Duluth (30-8-2) will be playing for the title for a record sixth time and will be looking to build on its record four national titles.

Cornell’s unexpected run of upsets continued, this time coming against the nation’s No. 1-ranked team. Cornell beat No. 4 Harvard in the quarterfinals and has won 11 games in a row after starting the season 10-8-6.

“Nobody in our league wanted to give us credit, and obviously here I feel nobody wanted to give us credit,” White said. “I think we came out and we earned it. I think we’re starting to turn heads now.”

It was a banner day for Cornell athletics. The men’s basketball team upset Temple 78-65 in the first round of the NCAA tournament Saturday and the wrestling team was second in the team standings through the second day of the NCAA meet in Omaha, Neb.

Laura Fortino and Karlee Overguard also scored for the Big Red and Amanda Mazzotta made 28 saves in net.

The highest scoring team in the nation, Mercyhurst became the first team in NCAA women’s hockey history with five 20-goal scorers. Yet, Cornell’s defense held the quintet to 12 shots on goal and Patty Kazmaier award finalist Vicki Bendus finished with two shots and was a minus-1.

The Lakers got scoring from two unlikely sources. Kylie Rossler and Meghan Corbett scored for Mercyhurst (30-3-3), which was looking to advance to the title game for the second straight year. Rossler connected for her fifth of the season and Corbett’s goal was just her third.

While Cornell has been busy demonstrating it belongs with the nation’s top teams, Minnesota-Duluth knows it can’t underestimate the Big Red.

“I’m sure they’re legitimate,” Bulldogs coach Shannon Miller said. “If you’re in the Frozen Four, you’re legit.”

To get to this familiar point, Minnesota-Duluth had to get past a familiar opponent in No. 3 Minnesota.

The two teams split the season series 2-2, but Minnesota-Duluth won the WCHA championship with a 3-2 victory on March 7.

“I’m looking at 4-0 since Christmas against Minnesota as a huge accomplishment,” Miller said. “When we met in October here in this building we chased them around like a pee-wee hockey team. We barely touched the puck. I went home with a bad headache and thought, ‘Wow. Do I ever have a lot of work to do.’”

Laura Fridfinnson added a goal and two assists for the Bulldogs, who are 18-1-1 in their last 20 games. Minnesota-Duluth is looking to continue a streak that has seen a WCHA team win each championship since the sport was first sanctioned by the NCAA beginning with the 2000-01 season.

Bulldogs goaltender Jennifer Harss finished with 27 saves.

Sarah Erickson and Emily West scored for Minnesota (26-9-5). Noora Raty made 21 saves for the Gophers.