Abbey Murphy scores twice as Gophers women beat Minnesota Duluth for 11th win in a row

Abbey Murphy scored two goals in the third period, one to put the No. 3 Gophers ahead and the other an empty-netter for insurance, as they beat No. 6 Minnesota Duluth 3-1 on Friday afternoon at AMSOIL Arena.

It was the 11th consecutive victory for Minnesota (21-3-2, 18-1-2 WCHA).

"A great win against a really good opponent on the road," Gophers coach Brad Frost said. "I'm really proud of our team and the way they defended tonight. We competed and played a full 60 minutes of hockey, which you have to do against a good club. Skylar Vetter was really good in net again. All in all, a great team win."

The winning goal came at 7 minutes, 56 seconds of the third period. After a UMD player mishandled a pass in her team's defensive end, Grace Zumwinkle jumped on the puck and charged up the slot.

As Bulldogs goalie Emma Soderberg came out to challenge the nation's leading goal-scorer, Zumwinkle (21 goals) found Murphy on the left side. And the sophomore forward from Evergreen Park, Ill., easily found the net behind Soderberg.

Murphy's second goal, her 18th of the season, came with 1:21 to play. She chased a puck behind the endboards, then flipped it in front where it banked off a UMD player into the goal.

Catie Skaja of the Gophers had the first goal of the game — her eighth of the season — at 10:46 of the second period. After Zumwinkle and Taylor Heise each hit a post in the middle period, Skaja scored on a deflection. Defenseman Madeline Wethington's low shot from the left point went between a UMD player's legs and Skaja's redirect found the top of the net.

UMD (19-7-1, 13-7-1) had won six games in a row. The Bulldogs scored their lone goal at 37 seconds of the third period on Taylor Stewart's shot off Vetter's glove.

Vetter made 31 saves for the win; Soderberg had 35 stops.