In their first away series of the season, the No. 1 Wisconsin Badgers showed no signs of slowing down. The women’s hockey team came away with two wins against the Syracuse Orange (0-3-1), earning them a perfect 6-0-0 record on the season.
The Badgers earned a 1-0 win in the first game on Friday afternoon. Sophomore forward Abby Roque scored the lone goal for the Badgers in that contest after dancing through two defenders. Roque snuck the shot in short side against Syracuse goalie Abbey Miller to give UW its first road victory of the season.
The goal was Roque’s second of the season. The sophomore, who finished second in the preseason WCHA Player of the Year voting, has had an impressive start to the year to follow up a solid freshman campaign.
Kristen Campbell, the Wisconsin goalie who transferred from the University of North Dakota after the team was dissolved due to budget cuts, earned her third shutout of the season. The redshirt sophomore had twenty saves in the low-scoring affair.
On Saturday afternoon, the Badgers showed returned to dominant form, as an offensive explosion saw UW net five goals in a decisive three-goal victory.
In the last three minutes of the first period, redshirt senior and captain Claudia Kepler scored two power play goals to help Wisconsin take a 2-0 lead into the locker room for the first intermission. Both were assisted by Abby Roque and sophomore defenseman Mekenzie Steffen.
The Orange fought back with one goal in the second before the game opened up with four goals between the two teams in the third.
Freshman forward Caitlin Schneider scored her second of the season before the Orange responded four minutes later to make it a one-goal game. It didn’t last long, however, as senior defenseman Lauren Williams scored her first of the season to give Wisconsin a two-goal cushion.
Junior defenseman Mikaela Gardner sealed Syracuse’s fate at the 17:22 mark of the final frame, scoring her second of the season. Abby Roque assisted, giving her three points on the night to help her reclaim the lead in the NCAA scoring race with 10 points in six games.
Kristen Campbell finished the game with 16 saves to bump her season save percentage to .963.
Freshman forward Brette Pettet, who scored the first hat trick of the season last weekend against Mercyhurst (and was named the WCHA Rookie of the Week), had a relatively quiet weekend with only one assist.
With the two wins against Syracuse, the Badgers lifted their record to 4-0-0 all time against the Orange. The Badgers are 34-1-0 against the College Hockey America (CHA) conference.
Wisconsin looks to continue its undefeated season next weekend in a series against the Minnesota State Mavericks (1-1-1). They will face off in Mankato Friday night at 7 p.m. and again at 3 p.m. on Saturday.
