ST. CLOUD, Minn. -- Minnesota State suffered a 4-1 defeat and sweep to St. Cloud State in a Western Collegiate Hockey Association contest played away from home, Saturday.
The Mavericks have now dropped six straight and stand 5-7 overall with a 1-7 mark in WCHA action. The Huskies are now 4-5-1 overall with a 2-5-1 record in WCHA contests this season.
The opening period was a scoreless one, but it saw MSU dominate SCSU offensively with a 12-3 advantage in shots on goal and several quality scoring chances.
SCSU opened the scoring in the second period of Saturday's game. At 6:26, Jenniina Nylund gave the Huskies the lead before junior forward Kelsey King tied the game, 1-1, from the slot at 14:05 off a feed from Brittyn Fleming. King's second-period goal was her team-high eighth of the season. Flemings' assist was her team-high 13th helper of the season. SCSU reclaimed the lead near the end of the middle period with a goal scored by Emma Gentry at 19:19. After being edged on shots 15-14 in the second period, the Mavericks trailed the Huskies 2-1 during the second intermission.
The Huskies added to their lead twice in the third period with insurance goals from Addi Scribner, at 1:46, and Kenzie Wylie, at 4:30, to make it a three-goal game. The Mavericks came up short by a final score of 4-1 and return home without gaining any ground in the WCHA standings, and currently stand tied for seventh with Bemidji State.
In goal for the Huskies, Sanni Ahola improved her record to 3-4 with her second straight victory. She was called upon to make some key saves while stopping 38 of 39 shots en route to the win. For the Mavericks, junior goaltender Calla Frank, now 4-7 this season, made the start and competed for the first 40 minutes and stopped 16 of 18 shots. Sophomore Emerald Kelley took over in goal for the third period and made nine saves on 11 shots in her Maverick debut.
The Mavericks outshot the Huskies 39-29 in the series finale. Both sides were unsuccessful in scoring with the man advantage on two chances.
Minnesota State is idle next week before traveling to Columbus, Ohio, for a WCHA matchup with #2 Ohio State, Nov. 19-20.
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