FARGO – The Gophers’ starter in goal for their NCAA Fargo Regional first-round matchup against Massachusetts is … Liam Souliere.
Gophers coach Bob Motzko announced his choice Wednesday during a news conference ahead of Thursday’s game against the Minutemen. Motzko is going back to Souliere, a graduate transfer from Penn State, over sophomore Nathan Airey.
Souliere, whose 108 career games played rank fourth among goalies in this year’s NCAA tournament, started the final nine games of the regular season after earlier splitting time with Airey.
But in the opener of the best-of-three Big Ten tournament quarterfinal series against Notre Dame, Souliere allowed two goals on mistakes that were uncharacteristic of him. He was pulled in that 3-2 loss and replaced by Airey, who made 21 saves in a 4-2 win in Game 2 but lost 4-1 in Game 3.
Souliere has two 2023 NCAA tournament starts under his belt: an 8-0 win over Michigan Tech and a 2-1 overtime loss to Michigan.
Motzko has consistently praised both Souliere and Airey this season. Souliere is 13-7-2 with a 2.28 goals-against average and .918 save percentage, while Airey is 12-3-2 with a 2.42 GAA and .902 save percentage.
“They have been very, very good goaltenders for us,” Motzko said Monday, “and we need them to be that again.”
