She jumped for joy. Sixteen games into her freshman season, Minnesota defender Emily Brown had her first collegiate goal.
Coming 6:04 into the third period, Brown’s goal opened the offensive floodgates Saturday at Ridder Arena. Teammate Nicole Schammel scored twice and the Gophers defeated St. Cloud State 4-3 for its first home sweep of the season.
“Any time you can get six points, especially in the WCHA, in one weekend is a huge deal. To walk away and go into this next week with six points under our belt is definitely important,” said Brown.
Despite a perfect 8-0 road record, the Gophers (11-4-1, 8-3-1-0 WCHA) had struggled at Ridder Arena.
Minnesota’s defense led the way on both sides of the ice throughout the game’s first 50 minutes. Defenders contributed offensively by scoring twice. In their own end, the Gophers kept St. Cloud State (2-12-0, 1-9-0-0 WCHA) off the scoreboard.
The Huskies, however, were able to make things close with a pair of goals in the final 90 seconds. Once St. Cloud State, shut out by Minnesota 3-0 on Friday, started scoring, it couldn’t stop.
“The exciting thing is that it wasn’t just one and then we were done,” St. Cloud State head coach Eric Rud said about his team’s three-goal third period. “The momentum, that feeling of how it goes in again. You kind of forget when it’s been a couple weeks so that certainly felt good. We just needed one more.”
After a scoreless first period, the Gophers were finally able to solve St. Cloud State goaltender Janine Alder midway through the second thanks to senior defender Sydney Baldwin.
Baldwin’s goal snapped a stretch of 87:29 without a goal for either team this weekend. It was followed by six more, beginning with Brown. She celebrated by jumping in the air after putting in a pass by fellow freshman Grace Zumwinkle.
“That was a big moment,” Minnesota head coach Brad Frost said. “She’s not known for her offensive prowess, but that was a heck of a one-timer there.”
Schammel made it 3-0 Gophers less than three minutes later before Emma Bingham became the first Huskies player to light the lamp all weekend.
Still, Schammel felt once she scored like she had another goal in her Saturday. She did, getting her ninth of the season on Minnesota’s power play with 5:02 remaining.
“We outplayed them all weekend and maybe we didn’t outscore them as much as we wanted to, but a win’s a win. It’s always fun to win and put some goals in the net,” Schammel said.
Gulstene made 18 saves while her counterpart Alder stopped 28 shots.
For Brown, she’ll always have the memory — and feeling — of her first collegiate goal.
“Thinking about it now, I don’t really remember a lot. I don’t even remember seeing it go in. Obviously, by the vertical I was really excited,” Brown said. “I’ve always dreamed of playing for the Gophers and to get that first goal, it’s definitely a special feeling.”
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