Wisconsin Blanks Minnesota 3-0
November 02, 2007 | Women's Hockey
With two goals from sophomore Kyla Sanders and impressive goaltending by junior Jessie Vetter, the No. 1 Wisconsin women's hockey team defeated the No. 6/7 Minnesota Golden Gophers 3-0 Friday afternoon at the Kohl Center.
Vetter (Cottage Grove, Wis.), who made 22 saves in the game, earned her fifth shutout of the season and the 20th of her career. Wisconsin (9-1-1, 5-1-1 WCHA) also got some help from junior Angie Keseley (St. Louis Park, Minn.), who tallied her first goal since Oct. 6
With the win Wisconsin improved to 10-1-1 against Minnesota (5-3-1, 3-3-1) since the start of the 2005-06 season. The shutout was the fifth by the Badgers over the Gophers in the 41 game history of the series, with the most recent coming Jan. 6, 2007 in Minneapolis by an identical 3-0 score.
Despite being out-shot 12-7 in the first period, the Badgers managed to secure an early 3-0 lead. The first two Badger goals came courtesy of sophomore Kyla Sanders (Parrish, Fla.), who now has seven on the season.
The game's first goal came midway through the first period. Sophomore Jasmine Giles (Ottawa, Ontario) fed the puck in front to Sanders who scored giving Wisconsin an early 1-0 lead.
Wisconsin's second goal came 16:28 into the first period. Freshman Malee Windmeier (Champlin, Minn.) collected the puck in Wisconsin's end and passed it forward to fellow freshman Nash (Bonita, Calif.) who gave it up to a streaking Sanders at center ice. Sanders took the puck to the net all by herself, shooting it up past the right shoulder of Minnesota goalie Jenny Lura. The assist was Nash's second of the game, giving her six points on the season (two goals, four assists).
The Badgers' third and final goal of the period came at the 18:00 mark, less than two minutes after Sanders' second goal. After knocking down an attempted Minnesota clearance at the left point, Keseley cut inside, jumped over a defender 's stick and snapped a shot past Lura putting Wisconsin up 3-0.
The final two periods of the game remained scoreless as Vetter, who faced the most shots she has seen all season, was solid in goal. Wisconsin finished the game 0-for-2 on the power play compared to Minnesota, which went 0-for-5.
The Badgers and the Golden Gophers wrap up their series tomorrow afternoon at 2 p.m. at the Kohl Center. Admission to the game is free with a ticket stub from tonight's men's hockey game against Michigan Tech.
