The top-ranked Minnesota Gophers defeated the St. Cloud State Huskies 5-3 Friday night playing the first of a home-and-home series at the Huskies home arena.

The Gophers started the game uncharacteristically flat and finished the first half down 2-0 to the Huskies. Emma Gentry and Nicole Ness both tallied scores for St. Cloud during the period. St. Cloud was outshot 23-6 in the first period yet still led by two goals.

Minnesota fought back in the second half to tie the game at two apiece. Catie Skaja and Abigail Boreen mirrored the efforts of Gentry and Ness in the first period as both Gophers scored goals.

It was all Boreen in the third period as she netted two goals to give herself a hat trick. One more empty-net goal by Heise gave the Gophers a 5-2 lead late in the game. Olivia Cvar on a power play cut the Minnesota lead to 5-3 in the final two minutes of the game. But the Huskies’ comeback effort was too little too late as the Gophers took game one.

Gophers goalie Lauren Bench stopped 14 of St. Cloud’s 17 shots and Emma Polusny of St. Cloud stopped 56 of Minnesota’s 60 shots.

“I’m really proud of our team today,” said head coach Brad Frost. “We got down 2-0 in the first period, but really dominated play. They really trusted the process, stayed with it, and dug deep. A huge goal with 10 seconds left in the second period gave us an opportunity to pull away in the third. All in all, a really big three points and a win. Our team faced some adversity here today and found a way to get through it.”

Minnesota plays St. Cloud State again on Saturday at 3 p.m. CST on home ice at Ridder Arena.