Game Recaps

Wisconsin Finishes Runner Up at the 2003 ACHA Nationals
* Five Badgers Honored in Tournament
March 6 - 9: The UW Women's Club Hockey team fired 20 shots on net, but could only come up with one goal in the championship game against Michigan State University as the Spartans defeated the Badgers 2-1 to earn the rights to be named the 2003 National Champions.

The curse of the ACHA grows as this is the second time in two years that the defending National Championship teams have lost the following year in the championship game. Last season, Wisconsin dropped St. Cloud 2-1 only to lose 2-1 to MSU in this years final game.

The Badgers displayed some excellent performances in the round-robin games dropping the University of Amherst 6-1 in Game 1. The UW scored four third period goals to to put the game out of reach after a 2-1 two period score. After an early goal by Katie Pasell, Gretchen Anderson netted the game winner on a shot from the point off a Kelly Vruwink face off. Vruwink would go on and set up two more Badger goals in the victory. Lindsey Lahr scored twice in the third along with a point shot from Allison Rademaker and a goal from Katie Ball.

In Game 2, the Badgers faced arch rival opponent St. Cloud. It took half the game before Lindsey Lahr fired a wrist shot past St. Cloud's Maureen Barry. It was only 1 of 2 shots taken in the second period as the Badgers skated 9:00 minutes short handed. Katie Ball got the third period going with a rebound goal, then St. Cloud pulled their goalie while the Badgers were short handed. Erin Ficken made quick work of the Husky attack as she weaved through 3 different players before finding Ball on the back door for the empty netter. Not content with three, the Badgers poured on the pressure and freshman defense, Amy Colaizy scored on a point shot on a feed from Ficken to hand St. Cloud their second straight loss in two consecutive tournament meetings. The UW outshot St. Cloud 26 to 9 as Arner earned her seventh shutout of the season.

Playing their second game in the same day, the weary Badgers faced an emotionally pumped Northern Michigan team. The winner of this game would go on to the championship game. During a incredible forecheck, Jen Starbuck caught a pass in the high slot, faked the shot moved the puck to Katie Pasell, who patiently waited for the open shot before firing. Pasell's shot hit NMU goalie Tara Trombly, Melanie Schmitt then picked up the rebound and found Pasell for another shot. The rebound went to Ball who then found the back of the net to put the Badgers up 1-0. A few minutes later, on a missed off-sides call, NMU poked a uncovered puck past Arner to tie the game. Lahr would find her fifth game-winner of the season on a centering pass that hit Trombly in the back and rolled in behind her.

Michigan State who defeated Western Michigan, West LA and Penn State would face the Badgers in the final and exciting game. The Badgers poured on a very aggressive attack during the first period firing 10 shots on goal, but would come up short each time. MSU's Andrea Deshong got the Spartans on the board in the second period with a wrist shot from the top of the circles on a one on two attack. Suzie Mattke would answer back on a rebound scramble to tie the game at one apiece. MSU then took three consecutive penalties give the Badgers almost a five minute powerplay including a one minute 2 man advantage. The Badgers failed to capitalize on the man advantage as the teams skated to a 1-1 tie after two. Kat Arner was awesome between the pipes stopping two MSU breakaways, but she could not find the loose puck in a MSU power play scramble as MSU scored the game winner with 4:11 minutes left in the game. Uschan pulled Arner with 1:30 minutes left in the game, but the Spartans held off the Badger attack to win their first ever Championship.

The Badgers finish another successful season with an impressive 26-4-3 record (19-4-3 in the ACHA). Full Tournament information can be found on the ACHA Tournament site.

2003 ACHA All-Tournament Team
Five Badgers received honors for their outstanding performances during tournament games. Team Captain and Senior forward Kelly Vruwink had three assists and Senior forward Melanie Schmitt had two assists earning them both Honorable Mention awards. Freshman forward Lindsey Lahr earn the top picks for ACHA All-Tournament - 2nd Team forward for her three goal/one assist performance. Freshman forward, Katherine Ball and Sophomore team Co-Captian, Erin Ficken both earned top picks for the for ACHA All-Tournament - 1st Team Forward and Defense positions. Ball scored four goals and put on an aggressive attack with linemates Pasell and Schmitt while Ficken had two assists while consistently shutting down offensive attacks.

Wisconsin Hopes For Same Success as the ACHA Nationals
March 1: The UW Women's Club Hockey team defeated the Madison Meteorites 5-1 in non-conference action on Friday to end the regular season with a 23-3-3 record (16-3-3 in the ACHA). Their next stop will Muskegon, MI where they will face the best of the ACHA in tournament action and hope to win their second consecutive National Title. No team has ever won back-to-back titles in the ACHA Women's Division. St. Cloud who won in 2001, dropped their title to the Badgers in an exciting 2-1 overtime game. Now, the Badgers find themselves in a similar position hoping to reign as champions once again. "The pressure is definitely on us," states Coach Uschan, "but our team has remained pretty calm. We have worked hard to get to here, but when it comes down to the final four games, records, stats and who you beat before mean absolutely nothing." Having seven players who skated in last year's tournament and eight others looking to win their first, the Badger's will be a tough opponent for anyone. Wisconsin will face off at 12:30 on Thursday against the University of Massachusetts - Amherst. This will be the first time the Badgers will have seen UMass this season. The Badgers will face arch-rival St. Cloud State in game two. The Badgers dropped SCSU 3-0 in December, but are 1-3 against the Huskies this season. Northern Michigan will be the final opponent in the qualifying games. UW swept NMU earlier this season 3-1, 2-1 and shared a pair of ties in the opening games of the season. The team with the best overall record will advance to the championship game on Saturday at 5:00pm. [Full ACHA Tournament Info] The team extends a warm gratitude to everyone who has helped out or supported us during this successful season.

Badger's Finish Strong at Home -
Blank Lightning, Sweep ISU
Feb 22-23: The UW Women's Club Hockey team defeated the Madison Lightning 7-0 and swept ISU 2-0 & 7-1 in ACHA action. In non-conference action, seven different Badgers scored goals and Katherine Arner picked up the shutout in the win. Katie Pasell lead the way netting the first goal then playmaking on 3 other goals as the Badgers outshot the Lightning 49 to 9. In ACHA action later that day, Wisconsin blanked the Cyclones from Iowa State, 2-0. Gretchen Anderson beat ISU goalie, Justin Skibbe, on a low slap shot from the point to go up 1-0. Melanie Schmitt picked up the second goal on a rebound, but that would be all as ISU's Skibbe kept coming up with save after save. Arner earned her second shutout of the day (8th of the season) stopping all 14 shots she faced (UW outshot ISU 38 to 14). On Sunday, Wisconsin Scored four third period goals to defeat the young ISU team 7-1. Nicole Krumrei got the Badgers on the board with a deke move on a break to the net. Rademaker, who was wheeling out of the corner, added to the score on a wrist shot that wizzed by Skibbe. Katie Ball had her own version of that same goal later that period with a backhand shot over Skibbe's blocker. Pasell, Rademaker, Mattke and Ball all tallied to put the Badger's up 7-0. Kara Thompson spoiled the shutout on a wrist shot to give ISU their only goal. Skibbe stopped an impressive 49 shots, while Arner made 13. The Badger's with one non-conference game remaining in the regular season hold a 22-3-3 record (16-3-3 ACHA). They will meet up with the Madison Meteorites at 10pm at Capitol Ice Rink in Middleton, WI.

Short Bench Takes Care of Western Michigan
Feb 15-16: Wisconsin dropped the Western Michigan Club hockey team 6-1 and 2-3 in ACHA action with 5 players out of the line up. Wisconsin gave up an early power-play goal, then rallied for six straight goals from Katie Ball (2), Katie Pasell, Lindsey Lahr (2) and Amy Colaizy. The entire Badger team, who is currently battling the flu, missed 4 players from the line up and still managed to pepper WMU goalie with an estimated 40 shots. On Sunday, Wisconsin skated without Lahr and again dominated action. The UW could only find the net 3 times, but had numerous scoring chances. Jen Starbuck lead the team with two goals and Ball added the third. Wisconsin outshot the Broncos 34 to 16 in the victory. The Badger's sweep puts them at 19-3-3 (14-3-3 ACHA). Wisconsin plays three games this weekend. The first against a local Madison team and then a two-game series against Iowa State.

Close Games For UW on Home Ice
Feb 8-9 : Wisconsin picked up one win and one tie against the #2 ACHA Central Division Michigan State Spartans. Jen Starbuck scored the game winner on Saturday night to lift the Badgers 2-1, while the teams skated to a 2-2 tie on Sunday. Katie Ball got Wisconsin on the board late in the first period top-shelf rebound goal making it 1-0. Jen Starbuck picked up her fourth goal of the season on a scramble in front of the MSU net. Shortly after, MSU's Andrea Deshong was hauled down on a breakaway and awarded a penalty shot in which she then beat Katherine Arner to bring the Spartans with in one. Wisconsin battled six penalties in the final two periods and Arner closed the door to seal the 2-1 victory. On Sunday, MSU jumped to a quick 2-0 lead on a breakaway goal from Deshong and a shot from the slot Sarah Steele. That would be all MSU would score as the Badgers gave up only 7 shots (10 total) in the final to periods. Katie Ball scored late in he first period on a PP goal to cut the lead to one. Melaine Schmitt scored early in the second to tie the game, but the Badgers could not find the net again while firing 30 shots at the MSU netminder.

Badgers Fill up Michigan Net
Feb 1-2 : Wisconsin scored 15 goals in a two-game sweep over the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor. The Badger women club team dropped Michigan 8-3 and 7-3 in ACHA action while putting on a nice display of team passing, one-timers, and some unbelievable saves. On Saturday night, Lindsey Lahr netted three goals in the route as the Badgers jumped to a 7-1 lead after two periods. Katie Pasell got the team going early in the first, but Meghan Collier answered back just :13 seconds later - which seemed to spark Wisconsin's six-goal run. Starbuck scored on point shot and Rademaker and Vruwink cleaned up lose rebounds to seal the 8-3 victory. On Sunday, Wisconsin again jumped to an early 1-0 lead on a Katie Ball goal, but that changed quickly when UM scored two breakaway goals on Badger miscues. Katie Ball answered right back with her second to make it 2-2, but again Collier scored to put UM up 3-2. Wisconsin scored 5 consecutive goals to take a commanding 7-3 lead on goals from Lahr, Amy Colaizy and Melaine Schmidtt on a pair of one-timers. Ball recorded her third hat trick of the year. The Badgers hold a 16-3-2 (11-3-2 ACHA) record and will host Michigan State at the Shell.

UW Sweeps Gopher's at Home
Jan 25-26: Returning back to action after a 6 week break, the Badgers completed a season sweep of the Minnesota Gophers. Wisconsin dropped the Gopher team 5-2 on Saturday night, then blanked them 4-0 on Sunday. Melanie Schmidtt and Katherine Ball each connected for two goals a piece in the attack. Minnesota opened the scoring on a power-play goal which came off a deflected shot from the point. Shortly after, Schmidtt fired a low shot past the Gopher goalie to tie the game. Wisconsin dominated the game outshooting the Goph's 35-12 including a Jen Holschuh wrister from the slot. Minnesota picked up their second goal on an errant clearing pass with :59 seconds left to bring the score to 5-2. Taking off from where they left off, the Badgers jumped to a 1-0 lead on a Lindsey Lahr goal. Lahr took the puck from the Badger blueline and drove around the Gopher defense and finished with a 180 degree/behind the back shot to the back of the net. Lahr added her second and Alison Rademaker added insurance with a wrap around goal to put them up 3-0. Starbuck picked up a rebound and threw it upper-deck level to give the Badgers a 4-0 lead. Holding the Goph's to only 1 shot in the third period, Arner picked up her fifth shutout. With one weekend series left before final ACHA rankings, the Badgers hold a 14-3-2 (9-3-2 ACHA) record. They will travel to Ann Arbor, Michigan to take on the Wolverines.

Badgers Dominate, But Cannot Sweep St. Cloud
Dec 7 & 8: The Badgers shutout the Huskies from St. Cloud 3-0 on Saturday night, but came up short on Sunday losing 4-2 in ACHA action. Amy Colaizy got the Badgers on the board midway through the first period and Katie Ball added two more as the UW skaters went on to win 3 to 0. St. Cloud managed only 4 shots in the game while Wisconsin pumped 28 towards St. Cloud goalie Heather Moulzolf. It was Moulzolf's hot goaltending who kept the score respectable. Some bad bounces and good goaltending gave St. Cloud what they needed to win on Sunday. Katie Ball's two goal effort was not enough in the 4 to 2 loss. Wisconsin again dominated St. Cloud by outshooting them 32 to 13. A quick first period PP goal, put the Huskies up 1-0, but Wisconsin bounced right back with their own PP Goal (Ball). The Badgers went up 2-1 before taking 7 different penalties in the second and third periods. A fluke second period goal and seven PPs gave the Huskies the momentum they needed to score with only 1:54 remaining in the game. With Katherine Arner pulled, St. Cloud tallied the empty netter to finish it. Wisconsin sits #2 behind St. Cloud in the ACHA's first rankings. Next ranking is December 20th. The 12-3-2 (7-3-2 ACHA) take a break and resume action January 25-26 at the Shell against the U of Minnesota.

Badgers Score 38 Goals in Two Games with No Goalie at Stout - Wisconsin #2 in ACHA Western Division.
Nov 23 & 24: Wisconsin topples UW-Stout 19-3 & 19-2 in non-conference action in Menomonie, WI. The Badgers traveled to UW-Stout without their All-American goalie, Katherine Arner. As it worked out, Wisconsin needed no goalie to dominate a team who last year lead the Badgers 3-2 going into the third period. Last year Wisconsin only had 7 players for the Stout series and squeaked 5-1 and 5-4 wins. For the third year in a row, the Badger's lose a skater to injury. Two years ago, Jen Wollak left with a broken her arm, last year Kelly Vruwink tore ligaments in her leg and this year, Vruwink again took a slash to the thumb causing fracture. Fortunately, Vruwink may be able to return for the St. Cloud series in December. Wisconsin sits #2 behind St. Cloud in the ACHA's first rankings. This is no unfamiliar position for the Badgers as they spent most of last season behind St. Cloud in the rankings before beating them 2-1 in OT in the ACHA National Championship game. The 12-2-2 Badgers host St. Cloud on December 7-8 at the Shell (Madison, WI) before taking their Holiday break.

Bucky Tops Iowa State
Nov 16 & 17: Wisconsin overpowered Iowa State University in a two game series in Ames, Iowa (5-1 & 6-1). It took Wisconsin nearly 40 minutes of play to finally rally 3 goals in 2:26 minutes past a hot ISU goalie, Justine Skibbe. Wisconsin lead 2-1 lead for most of the game in front of almost 300 Cyclone spectators, but the Badgers were too much for the young ISU team outshooting them 46 to 11. Five different Badgers scored (Ball, Mattke, Michalski, Pasell and Anderson) in the victory which highlighted some tic-tac-toe passing from Ficken to Ball to Mattke who then buried an impossible angle shot into the net. Gretchen Anderson then later sealed the deal with a impressive top-shelf wrister late in the game. On Sunday, the Badgers jumped out early when Ficken sent a "rocket-slapper" whizzing by ISU goalie Skibbe. Katie Ball added a few goals and Michalski, Vruwink and Mattke each tallied goals to give Wisconsin its sweep. ISU managed to only get 11 shots in the game and only squeaked 2 powerplay goals in the series to get on the board. Wisconsin travels to Menomonie for a two game, non-ACHA series against UW-Stout. The Badgers jump to 10-2-2 overall and 6-2-2 in the ACHA. The Badgers will then take a two week break before playing arch rivals St. Cloud in December.

Strong Wins at Home - Badgers Top NMU
Nov 9 & 10: The Badger club women picked up two more ACHA wins defeating the Northern Michigan Wildcats (3-1& 2-1). After missing three games, Sara Michalski decided to get the Badgers rolling early. "Mich" banged in a rebound past the Central Division's Top goalie, Tara Trombly. Suzie Mattke picked up her sixth of the year on a Power Play and Katie Ball added the third to put the Badgers up 3-0. NMU scored its only goal on fluke call made by the official. Wisconsin outshot the Wildcats 39 to 18 in the win. On Sunday, the Badgers again jumped out and controlled the game. Senior forward, Melaine Schmitt buried her own rebound to put the UW up 1-0. Hardworking forwards, Suzie Mattke and Alison Rademaker, found Erin Ficken wide open in the slot. Ficken riffled a heater past Trombly with her new stick to give Bucky a 2-0 lead. The "Kat" came up big with 11 third period saves including two breakaways. NMU picked up their only goal on a deflection with :37 seconds left in regulation time. Wisconsin heads to Iowa State for a two game series this weekend. The Badgers jump to 8-2-2 overall and 4-2-2 in the ACHA.

Wisconsin Sweeps the Gophers
Nov 2 & 3: Wisconsin sweeps the Gophers on the road with a pair of shut out victories (6-0 & 2-0). The Badger team came out strong with four first period goals on Saturday night, the went on to outshoot the Gophers 56 to 8 while picking up goals in the remaining periods in the 6 - 0 win. Fifteen penalties were called on Sunday (nine on the Badgers) which changed the overall pace of the game from Saturday. Melaine Schmitt scored two power play goals leading the way for the Badgers while Arner made just 13 stops earning her fourth straight shutout win. Wisconsin hosts Northen Michigan for a two game ACHA series in Madison. The Badgers tied the Wildcats in both games earlier this year. The Badgers are now 6-2-2 overall and 2-2-2 in the ACHA.

Scoring Curse Lifted - Big Games Ahead
Oct 19-20 / 25-26: The Badgers lit up Michigan Tech 13-0, 4-1 and UW Whitewater 13-0 and 13-0 over the past two weekends here in Madison.The Badgers unleashed 183 shots in the past 4 games whiles scoring 43 goals. Erin Ficken, Lindsey Lahr, Allison Rademaker and Katherine Ball (had two) led the way with hat tricks. Arner picked up her second and third shutouts of the season.Wisconsin travels to Minnesota for a two game ACHA series against the Gophers. The Badgers are now 4-2-2 overall, but remain winless in the ACHA (0-2-2).

Badgers Fall to 0-2-2
Oct 11-12: St. Cloud defeats the Badgers 2-1, 4-2. UW again struggles to find the back of the net. The Huskies scored first in both games forcing the Badgers to play come from behind hockey. A succesful penalty shot by St. Cloud put the huskies on top Friday night after the Badgers nine skaters controlled a good portion of the game. Like Friday night, the UW bounced back from 0-1 deficit only to give up a short-handed goal with a five on three advantage with :03 seconds left. Gretchen Anderson and Lindsey Lahr scored Saturday night, while Lahr scored the lone goal on Friday.

Badgers Tie Two in Michigan

UW 1
@ Northern Michigan 1
Goals: Katie Pasell
Saves: Katherine Arner 16

UW 2
@ Northern Michigan 2
Goals: Katherine Ball (2)
Saved: Katherine Arner 20

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