Gopher Women Advance to NCAA Final Four

MINNEAPOLIS – Senior Kelly Terry (Whitby, Ont.) recorded a hat trick to lead the No. 1 Minnesota women's hockey team to a 5-1 win over Boston University in the quarterfinal round of the 2014 National Collegiate Women's Ice Hockey Championship in front of 2,606 fans at Ridder Arena Saturday evening.

In a rematch of the 2013 NCAA championship game, the Gophers broke a 1-1 tie in the second period with four unanswered goals to improve to 7-2 all-time in the NCAA quarterfinal round and secure Minnesota's 10th all-time NCAA Women's Frozen Four appearance.

Along with Terry's third career hat trick as a Gopher, the senior recorded an assist for a four-point game. Minnesota (37-1-1) also received three points from junior Rachel Ramsey (Chanhassen, Minn.) on a goal and two assists, and sophomore Milica McMillen (St. Paul, Minn.) registered two assists.

Boston University (24-13-1) was led by senior goaltender Kerrin Sperry, who made 41 saves in the loss. Sarah Lefort scored the Terriers' lone goal.

Sophomore Amanda Leveille (Kingston, Ont.) made 28 saves for the Golden Gophers as Minnesota outshot the BU, 46-29.

The teams skated to a 1-1 tie after the first period before Minnesota took a 2-1 lead in the second. The Gophers added three goals in the final 20 minutes to seal the win.

Minnesota got on the board first when Terry scored her 19th goal of the season at 12:56 of the first period. The Whitby, Ontario, native skated the puck up the right side of the ice and around the BU net, firing a shot from the left side through traffic that found its way past Sperry. McMillen picked up an assist on the play. However, BU responded just 21 seconds later with a goal from Lefort, and the teams took a 1-1 tie into the first intermission.

Ramsey scored the game-winner and gave the Gophers a 2-1 lead when she scooped up a rebound in the slot and fired a high shot past Sperry on a power play at 8:01 of the second period. Terry and McMillen assisted on the five-on-three power-play goal.

The Gophers added three third-period goals, including back-to-back tallies by Terry at 2:46 and 7:56 of the final frame. Sophomore Maryanne Menefee (Lansing, Mich.) added the Gophers' fifth goal of the game to seal the 5-1 win with 7:09 remaining.

Both penalty kill units executed as Minnesota held the Terriers scoreless on four power-play opportunities while going one-for-five with the man advantage.

Minnesota will face No. 4 seed Wisconsin (28-7-2) in the NCAA semifinals next weekend after the Badgers defeated Harvard (23-7-4), 2-1 in Madison Saturday night.

In other NCAA quarterfinal action, Mercyhurst (24-8-4) knocked off No. 2 seed Cornell (24-6-4) by a score of 3-2 to advance to the NCAA Frozen Four for the second-straight season, and No. 3 seed Clarkson (29-5-5) defeated Boston College (27-7-3), 3-1. Mercyhurst and Clarkson will face off in the other Frozen Four semifinal game.

Source: gophersports.com