No. 5 Women's Hockey Upends St. Cloud State
November 08, 2002 | Women's Hockey
Four power-play goals accounted for all of Wisconsin's offense in a 4-2 win over St. Cloud State at Capitol Ice Arena Friday night.
The Badgers capitalized on their only power play of the first period when senior Kathy Devereaux (Seaforth, Ontario) knocked in her first goal of the season. Molly Engstrom's point shot was stopped, but Devereaux picked up the rebound and scored. Nicole Uliasz (Chalfont, Pa.) had the first of her three assists on the goal, which came at 3:34 of the first period.
St. Cloud State tied the game with their own power-play tally at 2:33 of the second period. Abby Cooper beat UW's Jackie MacMillan (Buffalo, Minn.) from the slot with a wrist shot to make it a 1-1 contest.
Jackie Friesen (Regina, Saskatchewan) put Wisconsin up again at 15:14 of the second period during the Badgers third power play. Defender Sis Paulsen (Eau Claire, Wis.) dove at the blue line, preventing a Husky clear and passed to Friesen along the right boards. The sophomore skated to the top of the right face-off circle and blasted a slap shot through SCSU goaltender Laura Gieselman's five-hole for her fourth goal of the season.
The game was then put in MacMillan's hands when Uliasz tripped up SCSU forward Roxanne Stang on a breakaway, giving the Huskies a penalty shot at 17:09 of the second. MacMillan made the save with her left pad after a move by Stang and preserved the 2-1 lead.
A late second-period penalty by the Huskies led to Nikki Burish 's (Madison, Wis.) score 26 seconds into the final stanza that gave the Badgers a 3-1 lead. Uliasz picked up the puck in the neutral zone, skated over the blue line and down the left boards. Her centering pass was tipped by Meghan Hunter (Oil Springs, Ontario) into the slot. Burish's stick beat Hunter's to the loose puck and the shot found the net for the eventual game-winning score.
Hunter added her own score at 11:42, on the power play, with a wrist shot from the high slot over Gieselman's right shoulder. Paulsen and Uliasz set up the junior for the goal.
The Huskies crept back into the game at 18:27, when Krista Simonson broke free behind the UW defense and scored on the breakaway. But getting within 4-2 was the closest the Huskies would get.
Wisconsin held the Huskies to four shots in each period, outshooting the visitors 41-12 for the game. The Badgers 4-for-7 power-play performance ended a four-game drought with the player advantage.
MacMillan made 10 saves and improved to 5-3-1. Gieselman stopped 37 Bucky shots, but fell to 1-5-0.
The Badgers (5-3-1, 1-3-1 WCHA) meet the Huskies (1-7-0, 1-4-0) again tomorrow night at 7:05 p.m. Fans with ticket stubbs from the UW football game against Illinois can enter Capitol Ice Arena and the game for free.
