MINNEAPOLIS -- Despite outshooting the Golden Gophers 32-24, the No. 1 Wisconsin women's hockey team dropped a 3-1 battle against No. 7 Minnesota in the championship game of the 2018 WCHA Final Faceoff Sunday at Ridder Arena. 
 
After going down 1-0 early in the first period, Wisconsin (30-4-2) freshman Delaney Drake buried a rebound to notch her first collegiate goal to even the game at one. 
 
However, Minnesota (24-10-3) forward Taylor Williamson scored the game-winner in the opening minutes of the second frame to put the Gophers back up by one. 
 
The Badgers had several scoring chances in the third period, but Minnesota forward Nicole Schammel scored an empty-net goal with 14 seconds remaining to put the game out of reach. 
 
Three Notes of the Game: 

• Sophomore goaltender Kristen Campbell made 21 saves between the pipes for the Badgers.
• Freshman forward Delaney Drake scored the lone goal for Wisconsin in Sunday's WCHA title tilt, her first as a Badger. Drake, who played on UW's second line on Sunday, has four points from three assists and one goal. 
• Senior Baylee Wellhausen and junior Maddie Rolfes were named to the All-WCHA Tournament Team as Wellhausen netted a hat trick in Saturday's 4-1 win over Bemidji State while Rolfes also scored in the win.

Straight From the Rink: 
Head Coach Mark Johnson
On how Minnesota was different from their first four meetings:
"They didn't play any different. Those four outings were very similar, they capitalized on two opportunities, one a minute and change into the first period on a tip in and a minute and change in the second period on a tip in. We killed a couple penalties off, and besides that, we didn't give them a lot. It's just a matter of if we were going to get enough opportunities to create a goal, which we didn't. They defended well, and their goaltender played well today, and that's your typical playoff game, one team capitalized on their opportunities and the other didn't, and that's the difference in the game. I thought we played well, we had 30 plus shots and we didn't have a power play opportunity. I thought the effort was there, I thought we competed hard, and we just didn't create enough opportunities to get one by her today."
 
Senior forward Claudia Kepler
On the loss to Minnesota:
"Everything is a learning experience. We have won four times out of five, so that's pretty good. We will go in to our next game with a sour taste in our mouth and be ready to go.
 
On Minnesota's performance:
"It's playoff hockey now, so there's always going to be a harder pushback. That was definitely a tougher game than I think we had all year against them, so we've just got to build off this and learn from this game."
 
Sophomore forward Abby Roque
On Minnesota goaltender Sydney Peters:
"I think she played really well. I think she's a lot of the reason they won this game and won this tournament. Yesterday she had a shutout and today she came out made 31 saves out of 32. It's hard to score on a good goalie when they're hot like that, especially when nothing's going right. I think she's a big part of how they won."
  
On Minnesota's performance:
"I think you could tell they really wanted it, especially at the end of the game. They were really psyched when they won. I think that's a big factor in how they played hard. I think we played really well, I think we had our chances to win, I just think that they came out and they got the opportunities and they put the puck away. We might see them later on down the road, we'll see, so hopefully we can come back and bounce back."
 
Up Next
Wisconsin awaits its NCAA tournament fate as the NCAA will announce the eight-team field on Sunday at 8 p.m. CT in a selection show on NCAA.com