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5/11/2004
A hockey national championship resides on the Twin Cities campus for the third consecutive year. This time the Gopher women's team took the crown, beating Dartmouth 5-1 and Harvard 6-2 at the NCAA Frozen Four. Earlier, the Gophers won the WCHA title over defending national champion University of Minnesota, Duluth. In both Frozen Four games, the Gophers fell behind early, tied the games, then broke open the contests with four unanswered goals in the third periods. The Gophers' top line—sophomores Krissy Wendell of Brooklyn Park, Minnesota, and Natalie Darwitz of Eagan, Minnesota, and junior Kelly Stephens of Shoreline, Washington—scored all those goals. "They're good to send over the boards when you need a goal," head coach Laura Halldorson said after the championship. The trio was named to the NCAA all-tournament team, along with junior goaltender Jody Horak of Blaine, Minnesota, and sophomore defender Allie Sanchez of St. Paul. This was Minnesota's third consecutive trip to the NCAA Frozen Four, but the first time the team reached the final. (Minnesota won the 2000 American Women's College Hockey Alliance championship, the year before the NCAA began holding a tournament.) The Gophers were ranked as the top team early in the season, but lost Darwitz to an elbow injury and a top defender to academic troubles in the middle of the season. Darwitz returned, however, to help Minnesota reclaim the top spot in both national polls. "It makes the championship very meaningful to know that we have had a lot of ups and downs," said Halldorson, who was named national coach of the year for the third time. "Through that adversity, we learned how to respond, and that came in handy this weekend." Final Four Curtain Call It seemed unthinkable back on February 12 that the Gopher women's basketball team would have much post-season success. When senior all-American Lindsay Whalen walked off the court at Ohio State that night with a broken right hand,
But the skies began to clear with word that Whalen would be able to play in the first-round game against UCLA. In perhaps the most amazing performance of her amazing career, the Gophers' all-time leading scorer poured in 31 points, including 12 in the last 1:40, as Minnesota pulled away to win what had been a tight contest 92-81. Minnesota then blew out the top three seeds in the region, number-two Kansas State (80-61), number-three Boston College (76-63), and number-one Duke (82-75), to reach its first-ever Final Four. Whalen had 27 points against Duke, but the three upset wins were all team efforts. All-American center Janel McCarville, a junior from Stevens Point, Wisconsin, averaged 20 points and 17 rebounds in those three games and ended up with an NCAA tournament record 75 rebounds in five games. The other three starters—senior Kadidja Andersson of Stockholm, Sweden, and sophomores Shannon Schonrock of Winnebago, Minnesota, and Shannon Bolden of Marshall, Minnesota—scored 10 or more points two or three times each in those four games. Against Connecticut, Minnesota could only hang close, falling 65-58. "I think we showed we belong here," second-year head coach Pam Borton said after the game. Connecticut beat Tennessee in the next game to win their third consecutive NCAA title. The season was the culmination of a four-year turnaround. After going 8-20 in Whalen's freshman season, the program's eighth consecutive losing season, Minnesota won 72 of their 95 games over the last three years, including going 25-9 this season, and made it deeper into the NCAA tournament each season. "It was a lot of fun," Whalen said after the Connecticut game. "We definitely have a
A Legend Retires Jean Freeman (B.A. '73), who coached the Gopher women's swimming and diving team for 31 seasons, will retire June 30. Although she had 28 winning seasons in those 31 years, her greatest success came near the end. Her squads won Big Ten titles in both 1999 and 2000. She also coached two individual national champions, an American record holder, and 58 athletes who earned a total of 203 all-American citations. But despite the accolades (she is already in the Minnesota Women's Athletics Hall of Fame and is the only woman in the country to receive the National Collegiate and Scholastic Swimming Trophy), Freeman says helping mold young people mentally and physically was the most rewarding. "Sport is an awesome mix of those attributes," she says. "Being at the college level, blending the student with the athlete at a high level, made it even more rewarding." This year's squad had 21 academic all-Big Ten team members. Freeman will most miss "being around people who are so passionate about what they do—coaches, administrators, and the student athletes," she says. "You don't find this in the normal workplace, this kind of passion. There is not one day I've ever been bored." In Memoriam Although not an athlete, for thousands of Gopher football fans, Jim Mitchell was a star. The former drum major (1966-71) volunteered with the band, helping each subsequent drum major work on style and showmanship. He also sang the national anthem and "Hail! Minnesota" at most home football games through last fall. Mitchell passed away March 17 at age 59 of heart failure. Return of the Champ Damion Hahn ended his Gopher career in March as Minnesota's most decorated wrestler in history. In March, Hahn became the third Gopher to win two NCAA wrestling titles and the fourth to earn four all-American honors. He is the only Gopher wrestler to accomplish both feats. | |||||||||||||||||||
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