Wisconsin played even with the two-time defending NCAA champions No. 1 Minnesota-Duluth through two periods, but the Badgers were outplayed in the third in a 7-2 loss to the Bulldogs Friday at the Kohl Center.
Junior Karen Rickard put the Badgers up 1-0 in front of 1,624 fans. The forward stole the puck from a UMD defender who was skating off the boards. Rickard then skated through across the slot and fired past UMD goaltender Patricia Sautter for her first of the season. The unassisted score came at 15:19.
The Bulldogs’ Jenny Potter tied the game at one at 18:11 finishing a centering pass from linemate Jenny Hempel.
UMD gained a 2-1 advantage at 12:41 of the second when Nora Tallus scored on a rebound, but the Badgers responded less than three minutes later.
Kerry Weiland fed Meghan Hunter in the slot, who hit Steph Millar with a blind backhand pass. The junior found room and scored her third goal of the season at 15:19.
“The first two periods were good,” said head coach Mark Johnson. “It was a good hockey game. I think it was entertaining. We had a number of chances that we didn’t capitalize on, and Jackie played well.”
Through two periods, the score stood 2-2 with the Bulldogs holding a 23-17 shot advantage. The score didn’t stay that way long as Erika Holst took 13 seconds of the third period to give UMD a 3-2 lead. Then at 1:30, Holst got credit for her second of the game when her pass from the point diagonal across the slot hit a UW stick and deflected past UW goalie Jackie MacMillan.
“We gave up two goals in the first 1:30,” said head coach Mark Johnson. “It looked like we got deflated or they got real good from that point on. It seemed their confidence went up when it got 4-2.”
Caroline Ouellette made it 5-2 at 6:39 before Michelle McAteer’s tally at 9:00 put the game out of reach. Nora Tallus added her second of the game at 14:28 to close out the scoring.
“We made some mistakes in the third period,” Johnson added. “If you make mistakes against quality players you usually end up paying the price. They played well when they needed to and had a very solid 20 minutes.”
MacMillan made 28 saves and lost for the first time this season.
She now stands 4-1-0. Sautter stopped 20 shots and improved to 5-0-0 on the season.
-compiled from staff reports