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Minnesota defender Lee Stecklein (2) and Harvard forward Sydney Daniels (25) chase after the puck during the first period of an NCAA women’s Frozen Four championship college hockey game Sunday in Minneapolis.

MINNEAPOLIS — Megan Wolfe scored early and Amanda Leveille made 19 saves, leading Minnesota to a 4-1 victory over Harvard on Sunday for the third women’s hockey championship in four seasons for the Gophers.

Hannah Brandt, Megan Lorence and Rachel Bona had goals in the third period for Minnesota (34-3-4), which returned the trophy to the west after a one-year slip.

Sarah Edney’s bad-angle shot from the left corner slipped past Leveille with 4:33 left trimmed the lead to 2-1 and gave Harvard (27-6-3) hope, but Lorence answered with a wrist flip past Crimson goalie Emerance Maschmeyer less than 90 seconds later.

Then came the empty-netter by Bona, and soon after the Gophers were leaping off the bench, flinging their helmets and sticks upward and piling on top of Leveille.

Maschmeyer made 29 saves. The junior stopped 43 shots in the 2-1 semifinal victory over Boston College on Friday.

The Gophers lost to Clarkson in the title game in Connecticut last year. Over 15 seasons of NCAA competition, 14 of the championships have been won by the three Western Collegiate Hockey Association powers: five by Minnesota, five by Minnesota Duluth and four by Wisconsin.

This was the fourth NCAA runner-up finish for Harvard coach Katey Stone, who wrapped up her 20th year as head coach.

Minnesota also beat the Crimson for consecutive titles in 2004 and 2005, and Harvard lost to Minnesota Duluth in the championship game in 2003. The Crimson won the American Women’s College Hockey Alliance title in 1999 before the sport was sponsored by the NCAA.

Stone coached Gophers defenseman Lee Stecklein on the 2014 U.S. Olympic team in Sochi, Russia, but Brandt was one of the players cut from the squad before the Winter Games.

The Gophers controlled the game from the start, with an end-to-end energy that produced a 14-6 shots-on-goal advantage in the first period. Just when they were in danger of letting that domination go to waste, Wolfe sent the puck into the upper-right corner out of Maschmeyer’s reach for the lead with 51 seconds left before the break.

The Gophers also got to play for the title on their home ice for the second time in three years, in front of a loud capacity crowd of around 3,500. The majority of the tickets sold out more than two months ago. The university allotted another 100 spots inside Ridder Arena to students in line with an ID card before the game, and those were snagged in less than five minutes.

MEN’S HOCKEY

Minnesota State draws top seed for NCAA tournament

Minnesota State has received the top seed for the NCAA men’s hockey tournament, followed by North Dakota, Boston University and Miami of Ohio as the other No. 1 seeds in their respective regions.

The NCAA unveiled Sunday the 16-team field, which included six teams from the eight-team National Collegiate Hockey Conference and just one from the Big Ten.

Minnesota State won the Western Collegiate Hockey Association tournament and regular-season title to finish 29-7-3 and make the NCAA tournament for a third straight year.

The Mavericks will play Atlantic Hockey tournament champion RIT in South Bend, Indiana, next weekend. The other Midwest regional semifinal will pit Nebraska Omaha of the NCHC against East Coast Athletic Conference tournament champion Harvard.

NCHC regular-season champion North Dakota will play in Fargo, about 80 miles south of the campus in Grand Forks, against ECAC regular-season champion Quinnipiac. WCHA runner-up Michigan Tech returned to the tournament for the first time since 1981 and will face St. Cloud State of the NCHC in the other West regional semifinal.

Boston University, led by Hobey Baker Award finalist and likely high NHL draft pick Jack Eichel, won the Hockey East regular season and tournament titles to draw the top spot in the Northeast regional and an opening-round game against Yale of the ECAC.

Minnesota won the Big Ten’s regular season and tournament for the No. 2 seed and a matchup in Manchester, New Hampshire, with rival Minnesota Duluth of the NCHC.

Minnesota lost to Union in the NCAA championship game last year.

NCHC tournament champion Miami must open the East regional in Hockey East opponent Providence’s home city. Denver of the NCHC and Boston College of Hockey East will meet in the other semifinal in Rhode Island.

The four regional winners will advance to the Frozen Four in Boston beginning April 9.