Mankato, Minn. --- #2 Minnesota State earned the series split with #18 Bowling Green by claiming a 5-1 victory over the Falcons on Saturday.

With the 13th biggest crowd all-time at Minnesota State with 5,127 fans in attendance, the game stood tied at 1-1 midway through the first period, but the Mavericks scored four consecutive goals in finishing with the win.

The Mavericks jumped out to the 1-0 lead at the 8:39 mark in the first period as junior blueliner Connor Mackey finished a three-on-two rush with a shot to junior netminder Eric Dop's stick side for his second goal of the season. The Falcons evened the score less than a minute later when senior captain Alec Rauhauser grabbed his own rebound off a breakaway and beat sophomore netminder Dryden McKay for a short-handed goal. Minnesota State regained the lead with a man advantage at the 18:29 mark when senior forward Parker Toumie found senior captain Marc Michaelis on the back door and Michaelis connected for his fifth goal of the season. Toumie's assist was also his 100th career point of his four-year Minnesota State career.

After a scoreless second period, the Mavericks scored three goals in the final period to close out the victory. Junior forward Jared Spooner gathered the puck at the right dot and went five-hole on Dop for his first goal of the season at the 9:06 mark. Two and a half minutes later, sophomore winger Julian Napravnik picked up a loose puck at mid-ice and finished and rifled a shot, going top shelf for his second goal of the season. The final goal of the game was a power play goal by senior winger Charlie Gerard. Gerard came in off the boards, skated out in front of the crease and beat Dop to his glove side for his fifth goal of the season. The goal is Gerard's fifth goal in the last four games.

Sophomore Dryden McKay, who upped his record to 5-1-1 in the win, had 23 save. The Mavericks outshot the Falcons by a 30-24 margin with Minnesota State scoring on two of three power play opportunities and BGSU going zero-for-two with the man advantage.

Junior winger Dallas Gerads finished the night with a career-high three assists to lead the team in points and garner the first star of the game. Michaelis and Spooner both had a goal and an assist each with Toumie collected two assists.

Minnesota State, now 6-1-1 overall and 3-1-0 WCHA, travels to Houghton, Mich., to take on the Michigan Tech Huskies on Nov. 8-9 in its next action.
 
Head coach Mike Hastings commented following the game.



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