The No. 5 Wisconsin women’s hockey team earned a road split with No. 4 Minnesota-Duluth from a 3-2 win Saturday after dropping Friday’s game 3-0.
After tying up the score two times during Saturday’s contest, the Badgers used a late rally to claim the lead after a goal by team captain Carla MacLeod at 17:59 with an assist from assistant captain Meghan Hunter. Wisconsin fought off over 40 seconds of a Minnesota-Duluth assault after the Bulldogs pulled their goalie looking for the tie, but the Badgers held on for their 12th win of the season.
UW freshman Sara Bauer led the Badgers in scoring with a goal and an assist, while Hunter’s assist on the game-winning tally moved her into sole possession of Wisconsin’s all-time scoring title with 160 career points.
Freshman goaltender Christine Dufour collected 25 saves in the win to improve to 8-2-0 in the Badger net this season, and Minnesota-Duluth freshman goaltender Riitta Schaublin posted 33 saves in the loss.
Minnesota-Duluth claimed the lead with a Jessica Koizumi goal off the power play at 9:07 for a 1-0 score and Wisconsin out-shot UMD 11-7. Wisconsin had three opportunities on the power play but came up empty in the period.
The second period followed suit with a Wisconsin power play at 5:03 killed off by Minnesota-Duluth. Schaublin could not stop every shot, though, and it finally paid off for the Badgers.
A delay-of-game penalty against the Bulldog bench provided Wisconsin with a second power play for the stanza at 10:30. Just 40 seconds later, Bauer tipped in the equalizer, with assists from classmate Meaghan Mikkelson and junior Molly Engstrom. After a roughing penalty against Wisconsin at 17:04, Minnesota-Duluth was awarded its own 5-on-4 advantage, but UW’s special teams killed it to preserve the tie heading into the contest’s final period.
A plethora of penalties against both teams set up Minnesota-Duluth’s second goal of the game by Krista McArthur at 5:32 with a 4-on-3 advantage. Wisconsin gained the upper hand minutes later, when a UMD interference call gave the Badgers their own 4-on-3 opportunity, but UW could not find the net.
With just over four minutes ticking down on the clock, Wisconsin tied up the score again at 2-2 after a goal by Sharon Cole with assists from Bauer and fellow freshman Lindsay Macy at 15:45.
MacLeod beat Schaublin for the game’s go ahead goal, and the Badgers held off the Bulldogs in the closing seconds.
Friday night the Badgers were blanked 3-0 in a physical battle.
Engstrom led the Badgers in shooting with four shots on goal, while Dufour collected 16 saves in the loss. Minnesota-Duluth’s Schaublin posted 35 saves in net.
Wisconsin stayed true to form and outshot its WCHA opponent 35-19, in addition to killing two of three power-plays by Minnesota-Duluth. However, UMD’s top line of forwards Caroline Ouellette, Jenny Potter and Jessica Koizumi would prove fatal to the Badgers’ hopes of an upset.
The Bulldogs leapt to an early 2-0 start in the first period to surprise the Badgers with back-to-back goals 44 seconds apart on just their second and fourth shots-on-goal.
Following a Wisconsin penalty for hooking at 5:14, Minnesota-Duluth cashed in on its first power-play opportunity as Koizumi chipped the puck in past Dufour for the first goal at 5:35 with assists from Olympians Potter and Ouellette.
Potter and Ouellette tagged up again for the ‘Dogs second goal at 6:19 as Ouellette and Julianne Vasichek set up the Potter score for the two-goal advantage. The Badgers out-shot the Bulldogs 11-7 throughout the period and earned their own five-on-four advantage courtesy of a UMD cross-checking penalty at 15:08 but could not beat Schaublin.
Ouellette and Potter continued to be thorns in Wisconsin’s side during the second stanza. The Bulldog lead grew to 3-0 after Ouellette tallied her own goal at 4:16 with an assist from Potter, despite Wisconsin again out-shooting the opposition 11-7.
A body-checking penalty on Minnesota-Duluth at 5:41 presented Wisconsin with a second advantage, but the Badgers were unable to convert against Schaublin and the Bulldog defense. The UW defense, however, would find its rhythm and began shutting down the attack of UMD’s forwards.
After a UW penalty just 54-seconds in, Wisconsin began the third period successfully killing Minnesota-Duluth’s second power-play of the contest to give the Badgers confidence on the Bulldog’s home ice.
Still down 3-0 entering the final few minutes of the period, Wisconsin killed off another Minnesota-Duluth power-play opportunity and gained one of it’s own at 16:17. Despite six shots on goal against Schaublin by the UW special teams, the Bulldogs held off the Badgers through the power play and the remaining minutes of the much-anticipated league game.
-compiled from staff reports