Sophomore forward Taylor Heise scored two goals, her 16th and 17th of the season, and also had two assists as the No. 4 Gophers women's hockey team beat Minnesota State Mankato 5-1 on Friday night at Ridder Arena. It was Minnesota's 47th consecutive victory over the Mavericks and kept its hopes alive of at least tying for the WCHA regular-season title.

The Gophers (24-5-3, 16-5-2-1 WCHA) remained three points behind Wisconsin, which won 4-1 at Minnesota Duluth to clinch a share of the conference title going into Saturday, the last day of the regular season.

"It was a solid effort right from the get-go," Gophers coach Brad Frost said. "We played a great first period, put that on the back burner and then really focused on the second. We had three solid periods here tonight, had a great penalty kill, and stayed out of the box for the most part. It was a complete team win."

Goals by Heise and Sarah Potomak gave Minnesota a 2-0 lead after one period. Heise and Alex Woken scored in the second period to make it 4-0.

Kelsey King got the Mavericks' goal in the fourth minute of the third period, but less than two minutes later Grace Zumwinkle answered with her 21st goal.

Sydney Scobee made nine saves for the Gophers in the first two periods; backup Makayla Pahl added three more in the third. Abigail Levy stopped 27 shots in net for the Mavericks.

The victory improved Frost's career record to 399-75-34; he ranks fifth all-time in wins among Division I women's hockey coaches and is one away from his milestone 400th.

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