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MINNEAPOLIS — The titans of women’s hockey collided at Ridder Arena this weekend, with first place in the WCHA up for grabs.

After falling 4-2 Saturday and winning the shootout after a 3-3 tie Sunday against the Minnesota Golden Gophers, however, the Wisconsin Badgers no longer control their own destiny in their search for a conference title.

Wisconsin and Minnesota entered the weekend series tied atop the WCHA standings, each with 40 points. But the Gophers (24-3-3, 19-2-3 WCHA) notched one more point on the weekend than the Badgers (24-2-4, 18-2-4 WCHA) and now control the reins in the race for the regular season title.

“I was very pleased with our effort,” UW head coach Mark Johnson said. “I thought the kids from the start played hard, and they competed at a real high level. I thought we put ourselves in position to win the game, but it was a good college hockey game.”

In both games, Minnesota got on the board first. Sunday, a pair of Badger penalties just 41 seconds apart gave the Gophers an extended 5-on-3 power play. Gopher defenseman Anne Schleper converted on the two-man advantage with a shot from the point that beat UW goalie Jessie Vetter for a 1-0 Minnesota lead 7:44 into the game.

Wisconsin was outshot 8-7 in the first and managed just two shots for the first 18 minutes of the second, but Kyla Sanders connected with Jasmine Giles at the 18:07 mark of the second.

Then, just over a minute later, Hillary Knight scored her team-leading 32nd goal of the season off a centering pass from freshman Brooke Ammerman to give the Badgers a 2-1 lead heading into the second intermission.

“Those two goals in the last two minutes really got us going,” UW forward Meghan Duggan said. “I think we were sleeping a little bit in the beginning of the second period, so we needed those goals.”

But the Gophers would climb back thanks to freshmen sisters Jocelyne and Monique Lamoureux in the first minute of the third period. Monique fed the puck to Jocelyne from behind the net, and Jocelyne had no problem beating an out-of-position Vetter to tie things at 2-2.

The back and forth trend continued, however, as Meghan Duggan put the Badgers up 3-2 on a play similar to Lamoureux’s goal. Playing the puck behind the net, Ammerman found Duggan in front of the crease with a nice pass that gave Wisconsin the lead.

With less than two minutes left to play in regulation, though, Minnesota’s Emily West provided the equalizer after Vetter made the initial save.

After both teams failed to score in overtime — though both had several chances — the game came down to a shootout.

Minnesota’s Sarah Erickson and Monique Lamoureux both hit the post on their attempts, as did Ammerman for Wisconsin. When Minnesota’s third skater, captain Gigi Marvin, was stopped by Vetter, Duggan had the chance to win it for the Badgers.

“I’m actually not that great of a breakaway scorer,” Duggan said. “If I score, we win, if I don’t we all keep going.”

Duggan converted on the opportunity, as she made a move on Gopher goalie Alyssa Grogan and backhanded the puck over Grogan to seal it for Wisconsin.

“It’s great for us to get a shootout win, and I think it’s always fun to get a win,” Duggan said. “It kind of stings a little bit that we didn’t get the regulation win, especially being up 3-2 late in the game.”

“I told our team how impressed I was, not only with their character, but they played with heart today and they did that through most of the game, so that’s encouraging,” Johnson said.

The Badgers played Sunday’s game without team captain Erika Lawler, who was injured Saturday in the second period and missed the remainder of the game.

“She’s the captain; she’s our leader,” Johnson said. “Certainly, we missed her today, but I was really impressed with the way the kids competed.”

Minnesota came out of the gates firing Friday night, as Jocelyne Lamoureux scored the first of her two goals of the afternoon just 1:27 into the first period that gave Minnesota a 1-0 lead early.

The Badgers couldn’t get much going offensively before the first intermission, as they were outshot by the Gophers 11-5 in the first frame, and again in the second period 16-8.

“It probably took us a half a period to catch up to the pace that they were playing at,” Johnson said.

Minnesota added a pair of goals — both off fluke turnovers in the Wisconsin zone — to build a 3-0 cushion.

The first came after Vetter tried to poke the puck free from a pair of Gophers charging the net. As Vetter freed the puck, West was in the right place at the right time and the puck bounced off her and into the empty net.

“Obviously it was bad luck that it went off of her and went towards the net,” Vetter said. “I took my chances. It was a 2-on-0, and I went for it. Obviously it went around the wrong way. It happens.

Lamoureux struck again midway through the third on another bizarre Badger turnover. Anne Dronen tried to clear the puck out of the crease but had her stick break in the process. Lamoureux was there to collect the loose puck in front of Vetter and beat the UW netminder for a 3-0 Gopher lead.

“Those are definitely frustrating,” Vetter said. “The third one, the stick breaks. That’s going to happen in a game, and you’ve just got to respond to it.”

The Badgers did indeed respond but not until 14:14 into the second period. Wisconsin’s first goal of the game was the result of a nifty pass down low from Jasmine Giles to Brooke Ammerman, who buried her 22nd tally of the season.

Minnesota answered early in the third on a power play goal by Melanie Gagnon, pushing the Gopher lead to 4-1. A breakaway goal by Duggan just a minute and a half later cut it to 4-2, but the Badgers failed to find their offense the rest of the game.

Wisconsin and Minnesota have both two series remaining in the regular season, and the Badgers will need the Gophers to falter down the stretch for a chance at a WCHA title.

“We tried to do whatever we could to win,” Johnson said. “Now we’re going to have to get some help from somebody else.”