The No. 7 University of Minnesota Duluth women's hockey team exchanged offensive outbursts with the No. 2 University of Wisconsin Saturday afternoon, but it was the Badgers who scored last to steal the 5-4 win at AMSOIL Arena.

 

"I don't know how we wound up where we were in the third, but we have to be better," said UMD head coach Maura Crowell. "We have to believe, I think Wisconsin is way more confident in those moments. And confidence is one thing, but I think structure beats that and should have should have beat that, so it's very disappointing."

 

UMD started off the game with plenty of confidence when graduate forward Reece Hunt scored her 12th goal of the season at 9:52 of the first period off a feed from Ida Karlsson.

 

The Bulldogs then rolled up two goals in the first 5:16 of the second period, both off of shots from senior defenseman Nina Jobst-Smith. Jobst-Smith had the first tally from the point at 2:39, and then Danielle Burgen tipped in another shot from Jobst-Smith from almost the identical spot for the 3-1 advantage. The Badgers broke through two minutes later, but UMD again responded with a power play goal from senior forward Clara Van Wieren at 13:18 to take a 4-1 lead into the second intermission. 

 

The third period ice tilted completely towards Bulldog netminder Ève Gascon, however, and it began with a Badger goal that deflected off the skate of UMD defenseman on the power play at the 6:20 mark. From there, Wisconsin scored again just 18 seconds later, and in a span of 2:27, the Badgers had equalized UMD 4-4 with more than half the period left to play. Wisconsin's Kirsten Simms buried the game-winner with just 1:31 left in the third period to seal the Badgers four-goal comeback effort.

 

Gascon turned away 45 Badgers shots, while goaltender Ava McNaughton had 27 for Wisconsin, who outshot the Bulldogs 46-3 and improved to 22-4-0 and 16-4-0 in the Western Collegiate Hockey Association. 

 

The Bulldogs (19-11-2, 10-10-0) will look to bounce back next weekend with a series at AMSOIL Arena against Minnesota State University, Mankato that will get underway at 6:00 p.m. Friday.

BULLDOG NOTES: Both Nina Jobst-Smith (1g, 1a) and Ida Karlsson recorded two points in the game … Danielle Burgen had a game in each game of the series … This weekend series marks the first sweep UMD has surrendered against the Badgers since Oct. 15 & 16, 2021 and the first at AMSOIL since Feb. 15-16, 2019 … Saturday was the fifth time in the Maura Crowell era UMD has put up four or more goals against Wisconsin …. UMD is 2-2-1 in those games, and all five have come at AMSOIL Arena.