MADISON, Wis. — The top-ranked Wisconsin women's hockey team rallied from an early 1-0 deficit to beat second-ranked Ohio State, 3-1, on Saturday afternoon in front of a sellout crowd at LaBahn Arena.
Grace Bowlby, Casey O'Brien and Daryl Watts all lit the lamp to help the Badgers (9-0-0, 5-0-0 WCHA) hand the Buckeyes (6-1-0, 6-1-0 WCHA) their first loss of the 2021-22 season.
Ohio State's Gabby Rosenthal scored the only goal of the first period to send Wisconsin into the second down 1-0.
The Badgers fought back in the second as both Bowlby and O'Brien scored goals to get the team up 2-1 headed into the third. The Badgers dominated play in the period, outshooting OSU 12-4.
The third period was very even until Ohio State pulled its goalie towards the end of the frame and Watts put up the Badgers third goal on the open net.
Kennedy Blair was stellar in net for the Badgers, stopping 27 of the 28 shots she faced to earn her eighth win of the season.
Three Notes of the Game
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Makenna Webster continues to lead the NCAA in points. The sophomore now has 22 after an assist against Ohio State.
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Daryl Watts moved into a tie for 10th place in NCAA women's ice hockey history for career goals as the senior now has 115 goals between her time at BC and Wisconsin. She also has 260 points and is two away from tying UW legend Hillary Knight for eighth all-time in NCAA history.
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This is the fourth time UW has started a season with a 9-0-0 record.
Straight From the Rink
Head Coach Mark Johnson
On today's game:
"It was a good game. If I was a fan in the stands today I would have got entertained. I thought both teams played at a real high level, the first period pace was extremely fast. It was a good women's college hockey game for late in October."
On the atmosphere:
"It was good. When the sun is out it's bright in there, we had a full house with two very good teams who played at their best. I'm sure tomorrow's going to be similar, it's going to be a matter of who can recover the quickest and come back to capitalize tomorrow."
Up Next: The Badgers and the Buckeyes will play the second half of the series on Sunday at 3 p.m. A limited number of tickets are still available on UWBadgers.Com. Fans who can't make it out to the game can catch the competition on the Big Ten Network as Sloane Martin and UW legend Annie Pankowski have the call. The game will also be broadcasted on 100.9 FM as Reid Magnum and Mark Greenhalgh have the call.
