Madison, Wis. – The Minnesota State women’s hockey squad fell to the first-ranked Wisconsin Badgers Saturday, 6-1. The Mavericks drop to 2-5-1 overall and 1-5-0-0 in the Western Collegiate Hockey Association.

The Mavericks kept things close in the first two periods, but allowed four goals in the third, making the final, 6-1.

The Badgers jumped out to a 1-0 lead after Hilary Knight scored an unassisted even strength goal at the 8:11 mark in the first.

The Mavericks knotted things up late in the first period when sophomore forward Lauren Smith tallied MSU’s lone goal of the game. The goal came at the 17:55 mark and was unassisted.

The Badgers went on to tally five unanswered goals in the second and third periods to put away the Mavericks. Forward Brianna Decker scored the only second period goal at the 13:01 mark. Knight tallied her second goal of the game at the 3:42 mark of the third on a power play chance, followed by another power play tally scored by Meghan Duggan at the 4:50 mark. Decker scored another goal at the 6:54 mark of the third and Brooke Ammerman finished the scoring with an even strength tally at 7:46.

Rookie goaltender Danielle Butters (1-2-0) suffered her second loss of the season and finished with 30 saves, while Wisconsin goaltender Becca Ruegsegger tallied 18 saves and improved to 4-0-0 on the season.

Wisconsin tallied 42 shots to MSU’s 19 and the Mavericks went 0-for-2 on power play chances, while the Badgers finished 2-for-5.

The Mavericks (2-5-1, 1-5-0-0 WCHA) will return home next weekend as they play host to the St. Cloud State Huskies. Friday’s contest is slated for 7:07 p.m. and Saturday's at 3:07 p.m.

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