Soderberg Records Career-High Saves as Bulldogs, Buckeyes Split Series

Junior netminder Emma Soderberg made 34 saves on Friday, recording her third shutout of the season, then made a career-high 44 saves on Saturday.

DULUTH, Minn. – The UMD women’s hockey team returned home this weekend, playing in their first games in over a month and split their series against Ohio State.

It was a stellar weekend for junior netminder Emma Soderberg. The reigning WCHA goaltender  of the month made 34 saves on Friday, recording her third shutout in seven games, then made 44 saves on Saturday, a new career-high, while allowing just one goal.

“Emma was a literal wall this weekend like literally left and right, stops everywhere, she had our backs every single shifts,” junior forward Kylie Hanley said.

“Ohio State came into the weekend averaging about 40 shots per game and they did exactly that this weekend and she was tremendous all the way through. That fluky goal that went in there in the second, that’s the only thing that they snuck past her. She needed us to perform a little bit better offensively because she gave us exactly what we needed,” head coach Maura Crowell added.

UMD entered the weekend the second highest scoring team in the NCAA and highest scoring in the WCHA. But the Bulldogs scored just two goals this weekend, both coming on Friday and one was an empty netter. UMD will look to get the offense clicking again next weekend at Bemidji State.