Josefin Bouveng’s hat trick leads Gophers to sweep of Minnesota State

Josefin Bouveng posted a hat trick and the third-ranked Gophers women’s hockey team scored the first four goals of the contest on its way to a 5-2 win over Minnesota State Saturday afternoon in Mankato, Minn., completing the series sweep.

It didn’t take long for Bouveng and the Gophers (19-5-1) to strike Saturday afternoon. For the second consecutive day, it was Bouveng who found the back of the net first, scoring a power-play goal 1 minute, 47 seconds into the game.

Allie Franco scored with 2 minutes, 52 seconds remaining in the first period to make it a two-goal advantage for the U. Abbey Murphy scored 3 minutes, 18 seconds into the second period on a goal Bouveng assisted on, then Bouveng made it a 4-0 Gophers lead with a goal midway through the period. That all but sealed the series sweep for Minnesota.

But the Mavericks (10-13-1) found some life later in the period, getting a power-play goal from Alexis Paddington with 1 minute, 27 seconds remaining in the second period. JuliAnna Gazdik scored unassisted 10 minutes, 23 seconds into the third period to give Minnesota State one last longshot at tying it up over the final 10 minutes of the contest.

But Bouveng scored an empty-netter, and completed a hat trick, with 27 seconds remaining. The hat trick was the second of her career and first since Oct. 15, 2022, which also came against the Mavericks. Her first career goal came that day.

Hailey Hansen made 17 saves on 21 shots for Minnesota State. Hannah Clark stopped 19 of 21 for the Gophers.

Murphy’s goal was the 90th of her career, which makes her 10th all-time in program history in goals scored.

The Gophers return to action Friday when they host Bemidji State for a noon puck drop at Ridder Arena in Minneapolis.