Central Oklahoma upset Wildcat hockey 3-1 for the second night in a row on Saturday.

After three wins in a row over two top ten teams, No. 16 Arizona (8-9-0) was swept by the No. 18 Bronchos (8-8-0) in Oklahoma City.

“Again, we just played average,” head coach Sean Hogan said. “We looked tired [Saturday night], which is disappointing. Three games in three days is hard, but UCO also had three games in three days.”

Central Oklahoma took a 1-0 lead in the first period, then the Bronchos extended their lead with a goal in the second period.

“It’s very disappointing,” senior forward Brian Slugocki said. “I don’t think we played up to our capability at all.”

Though Arizona had to start the road trip by leaving Tucson at 3 a.m. the day of the first game, Slugocki said fatigue wasn’t an excuse because the Bronchos also played three games in three days.

“I don’t know if we were tired,” Slugocki said. “I don’t think that’s why we lost. I think maybe we were a little bit winded from the weekend, but I think when it came down to it, we just made some mistakes.”

Freshman forward Dane Irving scored Arizona’s goal.

Arizona had 35 shots but just one goal, and Hogan praised UCO sophomore goalie Tory Caldwell.

“We didn’t capitalize on our power play opportunities, but we had a lot of shots and that kid made a lot of saves,” Hogan said.

Junior goalie Steve Sisler made 32 saves.

Arizona went 1-2 on the weekend, including a win at No. 6 Oklahoma 3-1 on Thursday.

“It started off really well, beating Oklahoma,” Slugocki said. “I think maybe we got ahead of ourselves, overlooked Central Oklahoma because they were ranked below us, but I think we’re finally starting to understand what it takes to make a great team every single night. You can’t take any days off.”

In October, the Wildcats endured a disappointing split with No. 20 Eastern Michigan at home.

Hogan doesn’t think the Wildcats take teams ranked below them too lightly.

“Everybody in this league is pretty close, especially the ranked teams,” Hogan said. “ASU is maybe head and shoulders above at number one, but 5 through 20, everybody is really close.”

Oklahoma lost three games at home this week, including two to No. 1 ASU.

“Every game comes down to one or two goals either way,” Hogan said. “That’s college hockey, you don’t see a lot of blowouts and we’re in the hunt for sure.”