Mankato – After being embarrassed in the first game of the series, Minnesota State Mankato women's hockey team gave the No. 3 Gophers a battle Saturday before Minnesota won 2-1 to sweep the WCHA series.

The Gophers (15-1, 11-1 WCHA) cruised to a 11-1 rout in the opener with seven different players scoring.

In the second game, the score was tied 1-1 until Dani Cameranesi scored her 18th goal of the season for Minnesota at 14 minutes, 32 seconds of the second period.

Cameranesi now has a team-high 38 points — one more than Hannah Brandt, and her goal total is one behind Brandt's.

"There's a reason we talk about our values and fulfilling and embodying those and defining success that way," Gophers coach Brad Frost said. "Sometimes you win a game where you didn't play very well, and that was the case tonight.

"Mankato played extremely hard, played well. We did not do the things necessary to really compete and battle, so it's disappointing that way.

Cara Piazza gave the Gophers a 1-0 lead midway through the opening period. Teammate Kelly Pannek got an assist on the play to extend her point streak to a team-best 18 games dating to the Frozen Four semifinals last season.

The Mavericks (2-15-1, 0-14) tied the game on Hannah Davidson's goal at 10:17 of the second period; she scored on her team's second power play of the game.

Brianna Quade made 29 saves for the home team and was named the game's No. 1 star; Sidney Peters stopped 15 shots for the Gophers.

Peters, the team's backup goalie, is 4-0 this season.

The Gophers were scoreless on three power-play opportunities after going 1-for-1 with the man advantage and holding MSU scoreless on two power plays Friday. Meanwhile, Minnesota held the Mavericks to 1-for-3 on the power play Saturday.

"I'm certainly happy to get three points and get the win on the road," Frost said, "but we're going to need to be a lot better next weekend. We're looking forward to being better in practice and having a good weekend next weekend as well."

The Gophers travel to No. 1 Wisconsin (15-0, 11-0) next weekend.