Box Score (PDF)

MADISON, WIS. – The women's hockey team battled No. 1 Wisconsin, but the Badgers earned a 5-2 victory on the ice in Madison on Saturday night. The loss moved Cornell to 6-4-1 (4-2-1 ECAC Hockey) while Wisconsin improved to 14-1-1 (12-1-1 WCHA).

For the second night in a row, the teams entered the second period tied but this time with two goals each after trading blows in the first frame.

Maddie Rolfes put Wisconsin up 1-0 just 70 seconds into the game with a power-play goal assisted by Sam Cogan and Abby Roque. 

It served as a wakeup call, though, and the Big Red stepped up its play and began to answer back to the Badgers before tying the game at the 11:13 mark. Senior Hanna Bunton slotted a slick pass to freshman Paige Lewis who took a backhand shot that bounced off of goaltender Nicole Cece's chest. Serdar, who was trailing, swooped in and roofed the rebound over Cece.

And while the Badgers scored just 62 seconds later – when Cogan lofted a pass towards the net that Annie Pankowski redirected into the net in stride past sophomore Marlène Boissonnault – Cornell kept pressing for equalizer.

The Big Red earned a power-play opportunity with less than five minutes to go in the first period and didn't let the chance go to waste. Just 11 seconds into the man-advantage, freshman Amy Curlew got the puck behind the net and found classmate Kristin O'Neill at the dot. O'Neill muscled a backhand on net that slid into the crease and Buckley finished at the left post.

With the game tied, 2-2, at the beginning of the second period, it was Wisconsin that put on the pressure, forcing Boissonnault to make 15 saves in the frame.

Pankowski put the Badgers up 3-2 when she picked off a clearance pass and finished a forehand deke for her second of the game. Wisconsin added one more when Cogan skated to a loose puck at the bottom of the circle and finished it high for the 4-2 lead heading into the break.

Cornell skated hard to start the third period and earned a five-on-three power-play early on with a holding penalty at 2:32 and a roughing penalty just over a minute later. Cornell forced Cece to make three saves while on the man-advantage but the Big Red couldn't capitalize.

It would be Wisconsin that scored the next goal – and the final of the game – when Sydney McKibbon put home an insurance goal just past the halfway mark of the period to make it 5-2.

Boissonnault finished with 26 saves and Cece had 12 while Wisconsin held the 31-14 edge in shots on goal. Sophomore co-captain Micah Hart had five blocked shots for the Big Red.

 The Big Red will return to the friendly confines of Lynah Rink on Friday, Dec. 2 to take on Harvard and again on Saturday, Dec. 3 to battle Dartmouth.