St. Cloud State
6-16-3, 4-12-2-0
Wisconsin
25-1-1, 16-0-1-1
Alder shines, but St. Cloud State falls to No. 1 Badgers, 4-0
1/27/2018 6:00:00 PM | Women's Hockey
Sophomore goaltender turns in a season high 53 saves in series-opening setback
MADISON, Wis.—Sophomore goaltender Janine Alder's season-best performance failed to bail out the St. Cloud State women's hockey team (6-16-3, 4-12-2-0 WCHA) on Saturday as it fell behind early against No. 1 Wisconsin (25-1-1, 16-0-1-1) and never recovered in a 4-0 defeat.
Alder, the newly minted Switzerland Olympian, shined in what was likely her last start before leaving for this year's Winter Games in South Korea—turning away a season-high 53 shots. It was her fourth 40-plus and ninth 30-plus save outing of the season and second-straight 50-plus stop effort against the Badgers in Madison.
"She certainly gave us a chance to hang in there tonight," head coach Eric Rud said.
The Huskies faced a significant hill to climb right from the get-go—conceding twice in the game's first seven and a half minutes, including giving up the opening goal just 64 seconds into the contest. But they re-grouped for the second and gave themselves a chance to get back into the game.
Quick passes from its defenders helped SCSU establish better in-zone pressure and create a handful of close calls in the middle frame, but, as often happens with a young and learning team, its improved effort was not rewarded. Instead, it was the Badgers who cashed in twice more in the closing four minutes of the period to effectively put the game out of reach.
"It was unfortunate to give up two there in the last few minutes of the second period," Rud said. "We were right there for a little while. We were making plays."
"You are not going to get many chances against them, so when you do you have to make them count."
Trailing by four, the Huskies mustered just a single shot on goal in the third period as Alder racked up 26 of her saves. SCSU was out-shot, 57-13, overall as it suffered its 14th-straight setback to the Badgers and was shutout for the ninth time in its last 10 meetings with UW.
St. Cloud State and top-ranked Wisconsin will wrap up their two-game WCHA set on Sunday, January 28 at 2:07 p.m., at LaBahn Arena. The series finale will be broadcast live by Fox Sports North and Fox Sports Wisconsin Plus. Fans can also stream the game live at FoxSportsGo.com.
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