Sophomore forward Presley Norby's goal with 5 minutes, 16 seconds to play gave No. 1 Wisconsin a 3-2 victory over the No. 6 Gophers on Saturday afternoon in women's hockey at Ridder Arena before an announced crowd of 2,109. Her goal broke a 2-all tie.
"Great hockey game here tonight, two very good teams going at it," Gophers coach Brad Frost said. "Obviously big rivals, so a lot of intensity and lot of passion — it was fun. Obviously, we're disappointed with the loss, but at the same time very encouraged. I loved how our team played, not a lot of complaints."
The Gophers (5-3-1, 4-2-1 WCHA) fell behind 1-0 and 2-1 in the opening period. But Sophie Skarzynski's power-play goal at 6:54 of the third period tied the score at 2-all.
Minnesota outshot the Badgers 27-17, but Kristen Campbell of Wisconsin (11-0, 5-0) stopped 25 shots, including 10 in the third period.
Sidney Peters made 14 saves for the Gophers.
Sophia Shaver gave the Badgers a 1-0 lead just 33 seconds into the game, with Norby, who played for Minnetonka High School, getting one of the assists.
Sophomore forward Lindsay Agnew countered for the Gophers 3:04 later with her first goal of the season. She scored from in front off a pass from Kippin Keller behind the net.
"Props to them, that first shift they came out strong," said Skarzynski, a junior defenseman from Lake Forest, Ill. "... I thought we had a really good response."
Wisconsin retook the lead at 7:41 of the opening period on Baylee Wellhausen's goal.
"It just took a period for us to get used to the pace," Frost said. "They're the fastest team we've faced this year. … We got better as the game went on."
StarTribune.com welcomes and encourages readers to comment and engage in substantive, mutually respectful exchanges over news topics. Commenters must follow our Terms of Use.
Comments will be reviewed before being published.