To redshirt a year, you have to have notified the NCAA early in the season. I'm assuming that she hadn't, and thus whether she played or not didn't matter towards losing a year of eligibility... she had already lost it.
Also, just ask gopher men's hockey fans what they think about penalties being made public. With all of the bar/underage/booster stuff going on, it seems like fans should never be allowed to know why a player was suspended/cut.