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After a season opening sweep over Quinnipiac, the Wisconsin women’s hockey team will host the Syracuse Orange this weekend at the Kohl Center. This will be Syracuse’s first road trip in program history. The program is in its inaugural first year, and the weekend trip to Madison is the first road test of the young campaign.
Syracuse joined the CHA conference, along with Mercyhurst, Wayne State, Niagara and Robert Morris. The Orange, in the program’s first ever game, fell 4-3 to Colgate on Wednesday. With only two weeks of practice and one game to date, it remains to be seen how well the Lady Orange will adapt to Division 1 women’s hockey. An early test against the No. 2 ranked Badgers and Erica Lawler, Hillary Knight and company should be a good test for this new team.
The roster for the Lady Orange features a lineup of nine freshmen and eight first-year transfer students. A trip to the Kohl Center is the first big step in the program’s history. Syracuse enters the season unranked nationally and as a preseason pick to finish last in the CHA. The Lady Orange are coached by Paul Flanagan.
Last weekend, Wisconsin opened its season with comfortable 10-0 and 7-3 victories over visiting Quinnipiac. It was a record-breaking weekend for the Badgers.
On Friday night, the team tallied 20 assists, resetting a mark that had stood since 2000. Then Saturday, sophomore forward Hilary Knight lit the lamp five times, a new program record. For the series, Knight finished with seven goals and two assists.?
In addition to a highly productive offense, the Badgers displayed an abundance of depth and young talent. Fourteen different players accounted for the team’s 31 total assists, and seven contributed goals. Those marks include eight points coming from freshmen. Forward Carolyne Prevost led the newcomers with two goals and an assist, all of which came on Friday. Also getting in on the action were center Brooke Ammerman, who scored her first career goal Saturday, and defenseman Brittany Haverstock, who recorded four assists over the weekend.
Overall, the Badgers outshot the Bobcats 100-31 and won 80 of 114 face-offs.?The offense may have stolen the spotlight, but senior goaltender Jessie Vetter demonstrated she was in midseason form, notching her 26th career shutout in the first game of the series. Vetter was named WCHA goaltending champion last season.?
