The University School co-op girl’s hockey team lost to the Brookfield Glacier co-op 3-1 in the championship game of the Culver’s Cup Tournament held at the Madison Ice Arena Saturday afternoon.

Brookfield jumped to a two-goal lead in the first period and added a second goal in the second period. The Wildcats scored their lone goal late in the game.

Jason Woods, USM’s head coach, said, “Brookfield may be the best team in the state right now. We played well against them, but we couldn’t get any good bounces. They capitalized on our mistakes. I am still happy with the way we are playing right now and the way we played in the overall tournament. I’m looking forward to four straight home games coming up in the next two weeks.”

Brookfield opened the scoring at 4:28 of the first period when Morgan Hollowell sent the puck high in the USM zone to Jaime Ertl who skated into the slot and fired a shot in.

The Glacier’s next goal came on a power play at 14:26 when Keli Sorge scored on a shot from the point off assists by Hollowell and Ertl.

Arianna Smith scored Brookfield’s third goal when she batted in a rebound off a shot by Hollowell at 4:54 of the second period.

The Wildcats fought gamely throughout the game. They had several good chances and out shot the Glacier 33-29, but they didn’t put the puck past Brookfield’s goalie Jenna Bales until late in the final period. Senior Laine Tomesch made an end-to-end rush and fired her shot into the net for an unassisted goal at 14:26.

USM is now 6-5. The Wildcats return home for their next game at 7:00 p.m. on Friday, January 4th when they host the Middleton co-op team in a non-conference game.