The No. 2 Wisconsin Badgers (4-2-0 WCHA, 4-2-0 overall) will host the Lindenwood Lady Lions (0-0-0 CHA, 0-7-1 overall) in what will be the Badgers’ first non-conference series of the season.
The Lindenwood team has been unable to record a win thus far, while Wisconsin has looked very sharp early in the season, and have moved up to No. 2 in the polls, their highest ranking since the beginning of the 2012-’13 season.
UW has been firing on all cylinders as of late, looking especially impressive in a sweep of St. Cloud State last weekend, outscoring the Huskies 10-1 in two games. The Badgers’ defense is allowing an average of one goal per game, which is second best in the nation.
Senior goaltender Alex Rigsby has been a stalwart net, ranking fifth in the nation in both save percentage (.953) and goals allowed, with opponents averaging just 1.21 goals per game.
Though Rigsby has been great thus far, the big story last weekend was the impressive debut of freshman goaltender Ann-Renée Desbiens, who recorded a shutout on 17 saves in UW’s 6-0 win over St. Cloud State. While Rigsby will continue to get the majority of the workload in net, head coach Mark Johnson has stated that he would still like to give Desbiens some playing time as well, which could include this weekend’s series against Lindenwood.
“[Ann-Renée’s] handled herself very well. She seems pretty comfortable, she seems to be poised,” Johnson said. “We’ll give her some more time to play.”
The Badgers’ offense has continued to improve as well, with redshirt junior forward Brittany Ammerman leading the team with 10 points and five goals. Ammerman is currently averaging 1.67 points per game, good for No. 10 in the nation.
Even though the Badgers have been playing well and are a heavy favorite over the Lady Lions, they know they can’t let their guard down if they want to be undefeated at the conclusion of Freakfest weekend in Madison.
“We gotta shoot the puck, we can’t take anyone for granted,” senior forward Madison Packer said. “I don’t think they’ve won a game, but crazier things have happened.”
Indeed, just last season the Badgers got a scare from—you guessed it—Lindenwood. The Lady Lions jumped out to a 2-0 lead just 3:25 into the game, only to have all hopes of an upset dashed when Wisconsin proceeded to score seven unanswered goals.
For the Badgers to continue to be successful this weekend, coach Johnson says that they just have to do more of the same.
“We have to come out Friday night and do the same things we did this past weekend against St. Cloud,” Johnson said. “Play at a high pace and try to maintain that for 60 minutes.”
