Badgers fall 3-1 at Minnesota State

Saturday, February 8

Mankato, MN

2:07 PM

Wisconsin Badgers

26-3-1, 16-3-1-0

Minnesota State

11-15-5, 4-13-3-3

Wisconsin

Minnesota State

Photo by: Kai Martin

Badgers fall 3-1 at Minnesota State

February 08, 2020 | Women's Hockey

Box Score

Shirley scores lone goal in setback against Mavericks

MANKATO, Minn. – The No. 1 Wisconsin women's hockey team suffered only its third loss of the season on Saturday afternoon, falling 3-1 to Minnesota State at the Mayo Clinic Health Civic Center.

Unlike Friday afternoon, when UW (26-3-1, 16-3-1-0) found itself with a 3-0 lead, the Badgers gave up two goals in the first nine minutes to Minnesota State (11-15-5, 4-13-3-3) and trailed 2-0 heading into the first intermission.

The Mavericks added another goal midway through the second on a rush to take a 3-0 lead into the final 20 minutes.

The Badgers would not go down without a fight as Sophie Shirley scored her team-leading 26th goal on a power play with less than five minutes to make it a 3-1 game.

UW had several chances late, as MSU was assessed a five-minute major penalty with 2:19 to go, but the Badgers were unable to capitalize.

Three Notes of the Game
- Breanna Blesi suffered her first career loss as a Badger as the redshirt sophomore made eight saves in her fourth-straight start.
- UW outshot Minnesota State 36-11.
- The loss snapped a 28-game unbeaten streak against Minnesota State that dated back to March 2, 2014.

Straight from the Rink
UW Head Coach Mark Johnson
On the overall game:
"It's just disappointing. We got behind, and opportunities that we had that we didn't capitalize on until late in the game. We played okay."

On what to learn from this weekend
"You just have to comeback and get it organized. It's not easy and we got Ohio State coming in. The rest of the way, games are going to be challenging. We'll come back and be ready for our last weekend at home."

Up Next:
UW returns to Madison for a top-10 showdown against Ohio State next weekend. UW will celebrate its senior class on Saturday in a 2 p.m. contest before hosting Fill The Bowl at the Kohl Center on Sunday, Feb. 16, at 2 p.m. Tickets for Saturday's game are sold out, but are available for Fill The Bowl here.