After losing seven seniors from last season’s national championship team, the Wisconsin women’s hockey team found itself in need of a new group of leaders. Starting the season 8-1-1, it would appear that the vacancy has been filled despite the fact that seven players are freshmen. One of these new leaders is junior defenseman Alycia Matthews.

“Being a junior, they want us to step up and help the underclassmen,” Matthews said. “With the freshmen, I try to help them communicate and talk on the ice.

“I have found that I have a bigger role on the team, both on and off the ice.”

Teammates have embraced Matthews in her new role.

“She has been a great role model for me,” freshman Hilary Knight said.

Along with having what it takes to be a team leader, Matthews, who hails from Castlegar, British Columbia, is a reliable blue liner who the Badgers want out on the ice.

“Alycia is just a steady defenseman. She is very trustworthy,” senior defenseman Emily Morris said. “She is just one of those people who does her job and does it well. She comes up big in clutch situations when we need her to.”

Not only has Matthews been a force on the defensive end, but she has improved her offensive game as well. With two goals and seven assists through 10 games this season, Matthews’ total of nine points is good for second in the nation among defensemen.

Matthews’ newfound scoring touch has been extremely impressive, considering that in 41 games last season, she only tallied eight points.

“Her role this year is quite a bit different than the last couple years,” head coach Mark Johnson said. “We lost three defensemen from last year’s team, and she is in a different role capacity-wise. She is getting a lot more power play opportunities and power play time, and the end result with her skill set is she has been able to create opportunities. “Given the opportunity to play in different situations than she has played in years past, she is making the most of it.”

After a four-point series this past weekend, Matthews was named the WCHA Defensive Player of the Week for the first time in her career. She contributed one game-winning goal and three assists, as Wisconsin swept Minnesota State 4-2 in both contests this past weekend.

Last Friday, Matthews assisted on the Badgers first two goals, and then fired a hard wrist shot from the left point that put the Badgers up for good. Matthews followed up her offensive assault Friday with a tally Saturday. It came on a crisp pass to set up the streaking Knight for a breakaway and eventual game-winning goal.

“I have been working really hard in practice, staying for extra shooting and working on puck handling,” Matthews said of her four-point weekend. “But yeah, I can’t believe it.”

Matthews is enjoying her individual success this season and certainly feels the same way about her past three seasons with the program.

“I have had so much fun,” Matthews said. “I love playing the sport, and I love winning. … It has been an awesome experience.”

Still, her main goal is to help the team win a third consecutive national championship.

“We have targets on our backs,” Matthews said. “We have to go out there and grind it out and compete every game. That is what we are doing, and I think we are doing a good job so far.”