The Wisconsin women’s hockey team (4-2-0 WCHA, 6-2-0 overall) completed their second weekend sweep in a row as they defeated Lindenwood (0-0-0 CHA, 0-9-1) 4-1 Saturday afternoon at LaBahn Arena.
The Badgers were forced to play without senior forward Madison Packer, who suffered a lower body injury on Friday night, which paved the way for the freshmen and sophomores to contribute heavily in this game. They combined for four goals and five assists in the game as well as freshman goaltender Ann-Renée Desbiens earning her second win of the season in net.
UW continued their dominating play as they surpassed 40 shots on goal for the fourth game in a row as well as adding two powerplay goals for the fourth game in a row as well.
Wisconsin came out strong as they scored their first goal of the game just 1:52 into the first period as freshman forward Sarah Nurse netted her third goal of the season. The Badgers were able to add a second goal with 4 minutes left in the period on a powerplay goal from freshman defender Mellissa Channell.
“She’s only going to get better,” head coach Mark Johnson said of Nurse, who finished the game with a goal and two assists. “I’m excited for her future. She’s got a lot of skill, a lot of talent and certainly is going to grow into a very good player.”
Lindenwood was able to cut the Badger lead to 2-1 on a second period goal from forward Caitlyn Post, which was Desbiens’ first surrendered goal of the season.
Despite the efforts to complete to comeback from the Lady Lions, UW was able to extinguish any possibility of a comeback as the Badgers scored two goals in the third period. Sophomore defender Courtney Burke scored her second goal of the season on the powerplay 12 minutes into the period, and sophomore forward Kaitlyn Harding would add her first goal of the season with three minutes remaining in the game.
“If you have depth in scoring you become a more challenging team to play against,” Johnson said. “As we’ve said at the beginning, if we’re going to be successful we’re going to need contributions from a lot of different people.”
With four straight wins under Wisconsin’s belt, they return to LaBahn Arena Nov. 2 and Nov. 3 for a weekend series against conference opponent Ohio State (2-1-1 WCHA, 3-1-1). Saturday’s game begins at 2 p.m. with Sunday’s game set for a noon start.
