Women’s Hockey drops series against No. 1-ranked Wisconsin

Daniel McElroy ® Staff Writer |
Photos by Mansoor Ahmad ® Photo Editor |

The Minnesota State University Mavericks (2-7-1) women’s hockey team fell short in two close, one-goal contests against the No. 1-ranked University of Wisconsin Badgers (3-1-0).

The Mavericks fell short 3-2 on Saturday, and 1-0 on Sunday.

The Badgers got the first points on the board halfway through the first period with Makenna Webster’s breakaway goal against sophomore goaltender Calla Frank. 

The Mavericks would answer with a pass from Tristen Truax to Sydney Langseth for her third goal of the year.

After the Badgers lone second period goal, Brittyn Flemming took advantage of a turnover in the neutral zone halfway through the third period as her shot from the slot went under goaltender Kennedy Blair’s arm and trickled in behind her to make it a 2-2 game.

The Badgers sealed the win with a late powerplay goal from Daryl Watts off of a rebound shot initially from Sophie Shirley.

Sunday’s meeting would prove to be another close contest with the only goal coming from a feed form Daryl Watts to Brette Pettet for her second goal of the season, 

The story of this series between the Mavericks and the top-ranked University of Wisconsin Badgers was Mavericks’ goaltender Calla Frank. Frank would stop 27 of 30 on Saturday and 37 of 38 on Sunday, combining for a .941 save percentage across the weekend.

Head coach John Harrington commented after the game, “[Saturday’s] game she played a solid game and she looked tougher in the net which is why we gave her another chance today and today she was spectacular and she was the Calla Frank we know we’ve had in the past.”

Frank played well in every part of her game, being successful on the 13 of 14 penalty kill opportunities, odd man rushes, and controlling her rebounds. 

Another top performer for the Mavericks is top scorer and alternate captain Brittyn Flemming. Flemming scored her third goal of the year on Saturday, putting her tied for second on the team, just behind the injured freshman Jamie Nelson.

Flemming is proving to be a great resource on offense with winning 21 of 37 faceoffs over the weekend, an area that Harrington has been working day in and day out to improve.

“That’s something we work on almost everyday after practice,” Harrington said. “[Flemming’s] been working hard on that part of her game…it’s starting to show up, she’s gaining confidence in her ability in the faceoff circle.”

The Mavericks next meeting will be with Bemidji State University next weekend at the Sanford Center.