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."
