KALAMAZOO, Mich. – The ninth-ranked Western Michigan hockey team suffered a 5-1 loss at home to North Dakota on Friday night at Lawson Ice Arena.

The Fighting Hawks opened the scoring with three goals in the first 10:35 of the first period. Mark Senden gave UND a 1-0 lead just 18 seconds into the game after Cole Smith created a turnover behind the WMU net. North Dakota added a power play play goal at 7:57 by Jasper Weatherby and followed it up with a goal by Jordan Kawaguchi at 10:35.

Jacob Bernard-Docker pushed UND's lead to 4-0 on a rocket from the top of the right circle at, spelling the end of Trevor Gorsuch's night in net for the Broncos.

Western Michigan cut the lead to 4-1 on Mattias Samuelsson's fifth goal of the season at 9:16 in the second period. Paul Washe dished the puck off to Samuelsson and he went behind the net for a wraparound attempt, throwing it into the crease and seeing it bounce off a UND defender and into the net. The assist was Washe's sixth of the season.

WMU picked up the pressure, outshooting North Dakota 14-4 in the third period but Matt Kiersted added an empty-net goal with 3:19 left in the game to push the lead to 5-1.

The Broncos outshot the Fighting Hawks 33-20 on the night with UND goalie Adam Scheel making 32 saves. Ben Blacker made seven saves in relief of Gorsuch. The WMU power play finished 0-for-6 on the night, while UND converted on one of its two chances.

The two teams battle it out again on Saturday night at 7:05 p.m.