The University of Wisconsin women’s hockey team improved to 8-1-1 overall (4-1-1 WCHA), with two hard fought wins over Minnesota State at the Kohl Center this weekend.
The final score of both games was 4-2, but the Badgers had to come from behind twice after the Mavericks jumped out to 1-0 leads early in the first periods in both contests.
The Mavericks wasted no time getting on the board Saturday as freshman Lisa Edman scored 2:50 into the game. The goal came when Wisconsin lost the puck in its own end and Edman fired a shot past goaltender Jessie Vetter.
"You don’t want to get scored on in the first minutes of a period or the last minutes of a period," head coach Mark Johnson said. "We talked about that, and those are things we need to be aware of, and we need to make stops so it doesn’t happen."
The Badgers’ Jinelle Zaugg struck back quickly with a goal of her own later in the first period. Zaugg scored just under seven minutes into the game, with assists from junior Erika Lawler and sophomore Meghan Duggan.
After the first period, in which the Mavericks outshot the Badgers 13-12, UW took control of the game and allowed only five shots on goal in the last two periods.
"We had a slow start," senior defenseman Emily Morris said. "But once things got rolling we really clicked, and things were making sense again, which was nice."
Although Wisconsin controlled the puck for most of the game, the score remained tied through the second period and most of the third, and it looked like the game might be headed for overtime.
At 15:55 into the third period, however, freshman Hilary Knight leaked out on a breakaway and received the puck from teammate Alycia Matthews with only the goaltender to beat. Knight skated in front of the net and put the puck through the five hole for what would prove to be the game-winning goal.
"I [wasn’t] thinking about anything," Knight said about the breakaway. "I’m just trying to see how she moves, and see where I want to put the puck. She didn’t move, so I just put it through her five hole."
Wisconsin freshman Olivia Jakiel added another goal late in the third period to seal the victory for the Wisconsin. Zaugg led the team in scoring with two points on the night, while nine other Badgers had one point apiece.
Just one penalty was called all game, which was a welcome change from Friday’s game for Johnson and his team.
"[Friday] night there were 15 penalties called; tonight there was one," Johnson said. "Each game has it’s own little story, and it has it’s own little journey where you have to figure out how to win the game."
The Mavericks got off to a quick start in the series opener Friday as well, as Minnesota State senior Lindsay Macy scored 13 seconds into the game after Wisconsin gave away the puck behind their own net.
"It is obvious we made a mistake, and they capitalized on it," Johnson said.
The Badgers responded shortly after the Macy goal, tying the game up 35 seconds into the period when Zaugg received a pass from Knight and skated all the way up the ice before firing a shot from the right side of the net.
"The nice part of the first goal was we responded really quickly," Johnson said. "There were two goals and two penalties in the first 40 seconds of the game. You don’t see that very often."
Matthews, who recorded the game-winning goal and two assists, led the Badgers in scoring Friday. Zaugg also added an assist to go with her game-tying goal.
Penalties were a problem all night Friday for Wisconsin, as the Badgers accumulated nine for eighteen total minutes, including three by Morris. The nine infractions were a season high for UW. The Mavericks were penalized just six times on the night.
"We uncharacteristically took more penalties than we normally do," Johnson said. "That really takes the flow away, takes your chemistry away, and it just makes for a really challenging game when you have to kill nine penalties off."