With a goal frenzy and a pair of hat tricks, the No. 3 Wisconsin women’s hockey team (3-0-1) completed a weekend sweep of Lindenwood (0-4), winning 7-2 Friday and 9-1 Saturday, for another successful road series.
Lindenwood fed off of the energy of their home crowd, scoring two goals within the first four minutes to take a 2-0 lead Friday.
Wisconsin would cut into the deficit at the 11:54 mark of the first period behind the stick of senior forward Brianna Decker, capitalizing on a Lions’ turnover to make the score, 2-1. Moments later, the Badgers took advantage of another Lions’ turnover as junior defenseman Kelly Jaminski beat a Lindenwood defender to tie the score, 2-2.
From that point forward, Wisconsin wouldn’t look back. Junior forward Madison Packer got things started early in the second period on the power play.
Senior defenseman Saige Pacholok shot from the point, which was deflected past Lindenwood goaltender Nicole Hensley, but Packer was there for the rebound and scored to give Wisconsin their first lead of the game, 3-2.
On the power play again later in the period, Decker found freshman defenseman Courtney Burke, who fired a shot from the blue line that was redirected by Packer, extending the lead to 4-2.
The second period goal frenzy was not over as the Badgers were awarded a penalty shot in the closing minutes of the period and Decker easily beat Hensley for her second goal of the game to make the score 5-2.
Wisconsin’s explosive offense did not skip a beat in the final period of play, capitalizing on another power play midway through the period from the stick of Decker, the first hat trick of the year for the team.
They would tack on one more goal in a power play situation when sophomore forward Karley Sylvester deflected a shot from Burke for a final score of 7-2.
Junior goaltender Alex Rigsby turned in another strong performance with 20 saves, including eight in the third period to earn her third win of the season.
In the second game of the series, the Wisconsin offense was on the attack early and often as senior defenseman Alev Kelter got the Badgers on the board as the first period got underway to take the early lead, 1-0.
The offense would get another goal minutes later as Decker scored from passes by Packer and Pacholok to push the lead, 2-0. Freshman forward Erika Sowchuck gathered the rebound shot from the stick of Kelter for her first career goal and the final goal of the period.
From that point forward, Wisconsin scored six more goals, including three in the final two periods for a lopsided victory, 9-1.
Their shutout bid was turned down when Lindenwood capitalized on the power play late in the second period.
All in all, the Badgers’ offense spread the wealth across the entire roster, as a total of 11 players recorded a point, including a hat trick by Kelter. In the contest, Decker recorded a goal and two assists and became the fifth player in the program to record 200 career points.
The Wisconsin women travel to Duluth, Minn., to take on Minnesota Duluth next weekend Oct. 13-14 to complete the three-week road stretch to open the season before returning to Madison.
