Wisconsin Upsets No. 1 Minnesota Duluth
December 10, 2005 | Women's Hockey
The No. 4 Wisconsin women's hockey team downed top-ranked Minnesota Duluth at the DECC in Duluth, Minn., Saturday night. Newcomer Tia Hanson (Medicine Hat, Alberta) scored the game-winner in the 2-1 victory. The Badgers improved to 15-2-1 overall and 12-1-1 in WCHA action. The Bulldogs suffered their third loss of the season and fell to 14-3-1 (12-3-1 WCHA).
The Badger win snapped two streaks for the Bulldogs. UMD had been running a 10-game unbeaten streak and an 11-game unbeaten streak on its home ice.
A first period penalty to Wisconsin's Emily Morris proved to be advantageous for the Badgers. Freshman defender Alycia Matthews (Castlegar, British Columbia) fought to clear the puck out of the corner. Captain Sharon Cole (Bloomington, Minn.) put hard pressure on the UMD defender and chased the puck into Bulldogs territory. Though Cole's shot was deflected, UMD goalie Riitta Schaublin had come out of the net to make the save and Sara Bauer (St. Catharine's, Ontario) was in prime position to tap the puck over the line at 7:25. It was Bauer's second short-handed goal of the season and the first the Bulldogs had allowed this year.
The Badger power-play was in high gear as well capitalizing in the second period after starting with the advantage thanks to a UMD penalty at 19:35 in the first. The Badgers' all-freshman line stepped up with a goal from Hanson with helpers from Erika Lawler (Fitchburg, Mass.) and Angie Keseley (St. Louis Park, Minn.) at 1:21.
The Bulldogs finally got a spark with a goal at 15:52 of the second bringing the score to 2-1 before the second intermission. Though both teams had a number of chances they skated through the rest of the game scoreless.
UMD hoped to pull Schaublin in the last minutes of the game, but Wisconsin's defense held strong and kept the puck in neutral or Bulldogs territory forcing Schaublin to stay where she was. Schaublin made 23 saves in the game.
For the Badgers, Meghan Horras had a solid game stonewalling 26 shots in her ninth season win.
It was the last game of the calendar year for both teams. The Badgers will be back in action Jan. 6-7 when they travel to Detroit to take on Wayne State.
