North Dakota’s offense came alive Saturday in a 5-1 win over St. Cloud State that snapped an eight-game Sioux losing streak. The five goals were the Sioux’s most since Nov. 27 when they scored six against Quinnipiac.
The Huskies (8-19-4, 6-16-3 WCHA) scored the game’s first goal at 3:21 on a giveaway behind the net that was put out front by SCSU sophomore Hailey Clarkson and put away by senior Carrie Holldorf. UND goalie Amber Hasbargen lost her stick while playing the puck, but it was the Huskies who lost their way from then on.
UND (8-20-3, 5-19-1 WCHA) tied the game at 1-1 when freshman Cara Wooster got the puck all alone in front and put the puck under SCSU sophomore goalie Laurie St. Jacques after drawing her out of position.
“The first one was kinda lucky–I meant to go upstairs but it ended up going in on the ice,” Cara said.
The Fighting Sioux went ahead 2-1 on a great individual effort by freshman Melissa Dianoski. She put in her own rebound with less than a minute to go in the first period.
An unusual goal made the score 3-1 at 8:27 of the second period. Cara Wooster
again got the puck alone in front, deked the goalie and shot glove side. St. Jacques made a great glove save on the play, but she took the puck too far into the net across the goal line. Two more UND goals, one by Liz Funk at 16:57 and a top-shelf goal by Cami Wooster at 19:55, made the score 5-1 at the end of two periods, and that was it for St. Jacques.
The Sioux outshot St Cloud 26-23 for the game. When the Huskies did get chances Hasbargen was equal to the task.
“She has been playing good, she’s giving us a chance to win every game,” said Cami Wooster.
St. Cloud had played six straight games on its home Olympic ice. Husky coach Jason Lesteberg felt his team was more prone to turnovers on the smaller sheet.
“They had three unassisted goals on pucks we basically handed right to them and I think their other two goals were on turnovers as well, so we gotta be much better with the puck,” Lesteberg said.
UND did a great job by cashing in on those turnovers and converting them into goals.
“We had some great chances and the pucks went in the net,” said UND coach Shantel Rivard.
The teams rematch Sunday at 2:05.
