Josefin Bouveng’s first hat trick of the season paced the No. 3 Gophers women’s hockey team to a 5-2 victory over Minnesota State Mankato on Saturday in Mankato.
Gophers women’s hockey team finishes season sweep of Minnesota State Mankato
Josefin Bouveng produced a hat trick for the No. 3 Gophers, who have won 15 of their past 17 games.
The Minnesota Star Tribune
January 18, 2025 at 11:05PM
The victory completed a season sweep of the Mavericks and was the 15th in the past 17 games for the Gophers (19-5-1, 13-4-1 WCHA).
Bouveng, who had a goal and two assists in the Gophers' 8-3 victory over the Mavericks on Friday in Minneapolis, also had an assist Saturday for a seven-point weekend.
“It was a great win in a hard place to play,” Gophers coach Brad Frost said. “We got off to a nice 4-0 start and it looked like we were in business. But credit Mankato for making a push at the end.”
It was the second career hat trick for Bouveng, a junior forward who has 11 goals this season. Her first hat trick came in October 2022 in a 9-4 victory over the Mavericks at Ridder Arena.
Bouveng, who scored 61 seconds into Friday’s game, began with a power-play goal 1 minute, 47 seconds into the game. Allie Franco scored late in the first period to give the Gophers a 2-0 lead.
Abbey Murphy made it 3-0 early in the second period on assists from Bouveng and Ella Huber. The goal was Murphy’s 20th of the season and 90th in her Gophers career, making her the 10th player in Gophers history to reach 90. Murphy, who had a goal and three assists Friday, assisted on two goals Saturday for a seven-point weekend.
Bouveng scored with 11 minutes left in the second period to make it 4-0.
The Mavericks (10-13-1, 4-13-1) got on the scoreboard with a power-play goal from Alexis Paddington with 90 seconds left in the second period.
JuliAnna Gazdik scored midway through the third period to pull the Mavericks within 4-2, but Bouveng completed the hat trick with an empty-net goal with 26 seconds remaining.
“Josefin had three beautiful passes to her to get her hat trick,” Frost said. “We got off to a great start with the power-play goal. Any time you can jump out of the gates like that is great.”
The Gophers play host to Bemidji State next weekend.
Minnesota rallied to tie it in the third period, but Blake Biondi’s goal won it for Notre Dame.
