DULUTH, Minn. – A day after earning second-team All-America honors, the Wisconsin women’s hockey rookie Caroline Harvey showed the nation why, when she scored the game-winning goal in overtime to lead UW to a 3-2 win over Minnesota in the 2023 NCAA Women’s Frozen Four Semifinals Friday night at AMSOIL Arena.
The second freshman from Wisconsin (28-10-2) to earn All-America honors, Harvey surged to the top of the board from Minnesota goaltender (30-6-3) Skylar Vetter with 3: 13 to go in overtime to lift UW to its ninth NCAA championship game appearance.
The Gophers took the lead just 3:23 into the game and took a 1-0 lead going into the first intermission.
The Badgers dominated most of the second period, beating the Golden Gophers 17-7, but were unable to find the back of the net.
After a solid second period, Then Edwards put the badgers on the board just after the middle of the third frame, before Sophie Shirley grabbed UW the lead less than a minute later.
Minnesota tied the game with just 1:11 left in the third period to force overtime.
After 16:47 of home and away play in overtime, Harvey went up and down to call the game.
Cami Kronish stopped 37 of the shots she faced for her 20th win of the season and third of the NCAA Tournament.
Straight from the rink
The head coach Mark Johnson
On the thrilling win over a tough Minnesota team:
“We’re really excited. Big ebbs and flows of extra time, both teams have great chances. Six times we’ve played each other and most games have been like that with extra time and penalty shootouts. It comes down to someone one playing and the goalie makes a save. Both goalies played extremely well, congratulations Minnesota on a great season, they are a very strong team. We are happy to play the last game and look forward with looking forward to the day off tomorrow before getting the shoelaces tied on Sunday and then chasing them.”
On slow game start:
“I don’t know if it was nervousness or being a bit shocked by the goal a few minutes into the game, but it put us on our heels. At the second media timeout, it was just to recover the little things, we “We have to move our feet and get the puck back into the offensive zone to try to create chances. Even between the first and second half, I told the team that we have to play at the level we are capable of playing. We had a bit of momentum between the periods and then we came in second period and played quite well.
First-year student Caroline Harvey
On the team breaking through in the third period:
“Our team knew we had to score. We kept pressing them and we were so close for so long so it was about time we went and put one in the net. It happened and we were able to get some quick “Our team has so much fight in us and so much guts. We knew we were going to come back and get the job done today.
Senior Cami Kronish
By eliminating the Gophers in a dramatic way:
“It just comes down to taking everything day by day. The coach always tells us not to look too far ahead. It’s a three-period game, you can’t look too far ahead. It comes down to realizing that we We still have 60 minutes of hockey to play and it’s not over We can go that high tonight but tomorrow morning it’s a clean slate and we have to start making our game plan again and focus on what’s next. is coming.
Three notes from the game
– It was the third time this season that the UW and Minnesota went to overtime. UW has already won a shootout against the Golden Gophers.
– Wisconsin improved to 3-1-2 against the Gophers this season.
– Caroline Harvey picked up its second overtime victory of the season, with its first coming against St. Cloud State on October 15, 2022.
Following: The Badgers will face Ohio State on Sunday in the NCAA title game at 3:00 p.m. CT at AMSOIL Arena. Fans can watch the game on ESPNU or listen to the game on 100.9 FM.