Wisconsin Tops Minnesota State 4-2
October 26, 2007 | Women's Hockey
Junior Alycia Matthews recorded a goal and two assists to lead the No. 2 Wisconsin women 's hockey team to a 4-2 victory over Minnesota State Friday afternoon in front of the sixth-largest crowd in Kohl Center women's hockey history.
Three different Badgers (7-1-1, 3-1-1 WCHA) joined Matthews on the scorer's sheet, including freshman Hilary Knight (Hanover, N.H.), whose two points tie her for the national points lead at 13 points (three goals, 10 assists).
Junior Jessie Vetter (Cottage Grove, Wis.) made 12 saves in the game, which was the culmination of the annual Kids Day at the Kohl and drew a crowd of 2,137.
The game got off to an exciting start as Minnesota State's (1-3-1, 1-1-1) Lindsay Macy scored just 13 seconds into the first period. The goal by Macy, a former Badger, is the fastest goal to open a game by an opponent in UW history.
Macy also holds the record for the fastest goal to open a game by a Badger, scoring 11 seconds into a contest against Minnesota State on Feb. 8, 2004 while Macy was a freshman at Wisconsin.
The Badgers responded quickly as senior Jinelle Zaugg (Eagle River, Wis.) was able to take Knight's pass and skate all the way up the ice before firing a shot from the right side of the net. The goal was Zaugg's 70th of her career and the assist gives Knight 10 on the season, tops in the nation.
While on the power play just over four minutes later, the Badgers were able to take the lead off of Jasmine Giles' second goal of the season. Matthews (Castlegar, British Columbia) took Kyla Sanders' (Parrish, Fla.) pass and fed it to Giles in the right circle who then fired a wrist shot past Maverick's goaltender Britni Kehler giving Wisconsin a 2-1 lead.
The second period began a lot like the first, as the Mavericks tallied another early goal while playing with a five-on-three advantage. This time it was Nina Tikkinen who scored the power-play goal. Holly Snyder and Jodi Helminen were credited with the assists.
Midway through the second, UW broke the tie off of a Matthews goal, her third point of the game. Junior Erika Lawler (Fitchburg, Mass.) made a pass to Meghan Duggan (Danvers, Mass.) on the left side of the boards. Duggan then sent the puck up to the left point for Matthews whose wrister gave the Badgers a 3-2 lead.
Wisconsin was able to tack on an insurance goal at 13:42 of the third period. This time it was Knight, scoring her third goal of the year. Freshman Mallory Deluce (London, Ontario), who has won two consecutive WCHA Rookie of the Week honors, and Zaugg earned assists on the goal.
Wisconsin was 1-for-6 on the power play compared to Minnesota State's 1-for-9. By successfully killing eight MSU power-play opportunities, the Badgers broke the school record for most penalties killed in a single game. UW had killed seven man-advantages in a game three times, most recently at Robert Morris on Dec. 1, 2006.
The Badgers are back in action tomorrow as they conclude their series with the Mavericks at 4 p.m. at the Kohl Center. Admission to the game is free with a ticket stub from the Indiana vs. Wisconsin football game which kicks off at 11 a.m.
