DULUTH, Minn. – The No. 1 Wisconsin women's hockey team suffered its first loss of the 2016-17 season, falling 4-1 at No. 3 Minnesota Duluth on Friday at AMSOIL Arena.

Freshman Maddie Rowe tallied her first career point as a Badger, scoring a goal midway through the third period, but it wasn't enough for the Badgers (11-1-1, 9-1-1-1 WCHA), who outshot the Bulldogs (8-2-3, 7-2-1-1 WCHA) 46-30.

"I thought Minnesota Duluth's goaltender played very well," UW head coach Mark Johnson said. "We created opportunities in the first half of the game but we got a big goose egg. Then they ended up scoring on a deflection on the power play and that created momentum and then they were able to score a second one, which got them energized." 
 
Freshman Nikki Cece made her first career start for the Badgers making 26 saves against the Bulldogs as 2016 WCHA Player of the Year Ann-Renee Desbiens was sidelined with an upper-body injury.

"Nikki gave us an opportunity," Johnson said. "She had 26 saves, and that's a good way to start a career. The test was tough, the challenge was tough, but if we come out and score some goals, it's a different momentum."
 
The Badgers started the game off strong, as Wisconsin outshot Minnesota Duluth 20-3 in the first frame.

But UMD found momentum in the second period, as the Bulldogs's Michelle Lowenhielm scored on a power play with five minutes left in the frame to give them a 1-0 lead after two. UMD outshot the Badgers 16-12 in the frame.

Katherine McGovern and Katerina Mrazova scored early in the third to give UMD a 3-0 lead before Rowe scored her first career goal off assists from Baylee Wellhausen and Abby Roque to make a two-goal game with eight minutes remaining.

But the Bulldogs quickly answered, as Ashleigh Brykaliuk scored an unassisted goal to give UMD a 4-1 advantage.

"Overall, we didn't play poorly," Johnson said. "We've just got to figure out how to get the puck to the net Saturday. That's the big thing because the first period was good as we had a lot of scoring opportunities and their goaltender met the challenge. We had almost 50 shots in the game and had one crazy deflection go in for us but we need more of that."
 
The Badgers and Bulldogs wrap up their series on Saturday at 4 p.m. CT.