Despite the heroic efforts of goaltender Ève Gascon, the No. 4/5 University of Minnesota Duluth women's hockey team was unable to overcome both the penalty box and the No. 1 University of Wisconsin Sunday in a 4-0 loss at La Bahn Arena in Madison, Wis.


The Bulldogs were hampered by 11 infractions called against them -- the most since the 2009 season -- that forced them on the penalty kill eight times. 34 of the Badgers 54 shots were logged with an extra skater -- by comparison, UMD had five power plays but generated just four shots against UW.


Wisconsin scored a power play goal in each period, including one to open the game's scoring at just 6:07 of the first frame. The lone even strength goal for the Badgers came at 13:56 of the second period for the 2-0 lead, but UW again scored at 18:28 with an extra skater to stretch their advantage to 3-0.


Wisconsin added a fourth goal at 6:30 of the third period on a 5-on-3 power play.


Gascon followed her 45 save Friday effort with a 50 point performance Sunday, and just one of the goals scored against her was even strength. In fact, of the eight goals the Badgers beat Gascon with all weekend, five of the eight came with an extra skater -- or two. Wisconsin was 3-of-8 on its power play, while UMD was scoreless in five attempts and went 0-of-9 on the weekend.


Ava McNaughton made 22 saves for the Badgers, who improve to 6-0-0 overall and 4-0-0 in Western Collegiate Hockey Association play.


The Bulldogs (4-2, 0-2-0) will finally play at AMSOIL Arena this weekend for the first time this season when it hosts Minnesota State University, Mankato Friday and Saturday. Friday night's puck will drop at 6:07 p.m., while Saturday's skate will get underway at 12:00 p.m.