DULUTH, Minn. – A day after earning second-team All-America honors, Wisconsin women’s hockey freshman Caroline Harvey showed the country why, when she scored the overtime game-winning goal to lead UW to a 3-2 win over Minnesota in the semifinal of the 2023 NCAA Women’s Frozen Four on Friday night at AMSOIL Arena.
The second ever Wisconsin (28-10-2) freshman to earn All-America honors, Harvey went top shelf on Minnesota (30-6-3) netminder Skylar Vetter with 3:13 left in overtime to lift UW to its ninth NCAA championship game appearance.
The Gophers grabbed the lead just 3:23 into the game and took a 1-0 lead into the first intermission.
The Badgers dominated most of the second period, outshooting the Golden Gophers 17-7, but were unable to find the back of the net.
Coming off a strong second period, Laila Edwards got the Badgers on the board just past the midpoint of the third frame, before Sophie Shirley grabbed UW the lead less than a minute later.
Minnesota tied up the game with just 1:11 to go in the third period to force overtime.
After 16:47 of back and forth overtime play, Harvey went top-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
Head Coach Mark Johnson
On the thrilling win against a tough Minnesota team:
“We’re real excited. Great ebbs and flows of overtime, both teams having great chances. Six times we’ve played each other and most of the games have been like this with overtime and shootouts. Comes down to somebody making a play and the goaltender making a save. Both goaltenders played extremely well, congratulations to Minnesota on a fine season, they’re a very strong team. We’re happy to be playing the last game and look forward to the day off tomorrow before we get the laces tied up on Sunday and go after it then.”
On the slow start to the game:
“I don’t know if it was nerves or being a little 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 get back the little things, we’ve got to move our feet and get the puck back in the offensive zone to try and create some opportunities. Even in between the first and second period, I told the team that we have to play at the level we are capable of playing at. We got a little bit of momentum in between periods and then came in the second period and played quite well.”
Freshman Caroline Harvey
On the team breaking through in the third period:
“Our team knew we were due to score. We kept pressing on them and we were so close for so long, so it was about time we were going to put one in the net. It happened and we were able to get a couple of quick ones. Our team has so much fight in us and so much grit. We knew we were going to come back and get the job done today.”
Senior Cami Kronish
On taking down the Gophers in dramatic fashion:
“It just comes down to taking everything day by day. Coach always tells us to not look too far ahead. It’s a three period game, you can’t look too far ahead. It comes down to realizing that we have 60 more minutes of hockey to play and it’s not over. We can ride that high tonight, but tomorrow morning, it’s a clean slate and we need to get back to doing our game plan and focus on what’s coming next.”
Three Notes of the Game
– This marked the third time this season that UW and Minnesota went into overtime. UW previously won a shootout against the Golden Gophers.
– Wisconsin improved to 3-1-2 over the Gophers this season.
– Caroline Harvey tallied her second overtime winner of the season, with her first coming against St. Cloud State on Oct. 15, 2022.
Up Next: The Badgers will face Ohio State on Sunday in the NCAA title game at 3 p.m. CT at AMSOIL Arena. Fans can watch the game on ESPNU or listen to the game on 100.9 FM.