Taylor Williamson and Caitlin Reilly, neither of whom are among the Gophers' top scorers, each had two goals as No. 5 Minnesota defeated North Dakota 6-2 on Saturday afternoon in WCHA women's hockey at Ridder Arena before an announced crowd of 2,733.
The Gophers took a 2-0 lead in the first period when Williamson scored at 7 minutes, 48 seconds, and Reilly almost exactly eight minutes later.
Williamson's second goal — the sixth of the season for the sophomore forward — came at 2:02 of the second period. It gave the Gophers (23-5-3, 19-4-3-2 WCHA) a 3-0 lead and proved to be the winner. Teammate Sarah Potomak scored just 1:32 later and Cara Piazza added a power-play goal in the 15th minute to make it 5-0 Gophers.
UND (13-13-6, 10-11-5-3) got power-play goals from Halli Krzyzaniak and Anna Kilponen in the third. Less than a minute after Kilponen's goal, Reilly, a junior forward, answered with her second goal of the game and seventh of the season to complete the scoring.
Eleven players had points for Minnesota, including one with three — Piazza had a goal and two assists. Five players had two — Williamson, Reilly, and with two assists, Sydney Baldwin, Patti Marshall and Kate Schipper.
Sidney Peters had 24 saves for the Gophers; Kristen Campbell, who was relieved after it became 4-0, and Lexie Shaw each had 15 stops for UND.
With this weekend's sweep of UND — the score was 4-2 in the first game — Minnesota moved within five points of first-place Wisconsin, although the Badgers have one game in hand and can clinch the title with a regulation or shootout win. They host Minnesota Duluth at noon Sunday before visiting the Gophers next weekend to close the regular season.
