MADISON, Wis. – The Wisconsin women's hockey team scored four unanswered goals to earn a 4-1 victory over Clarkson Saturday in a NCAA regional final at LaBahn Arena to secure a spot in the 2025 NCAA Women's Frozen Four.

Kelly Gorbatenko recorded Wisconsin's (36-1-2) game-winning goal after Ava Murphy secured the equalizer following a 1-0 score after the first period. Laila Edwards secured a two-goal cushion and Lacey Eden recorded an empty-net shorthanded goal to lead the Badgers past Clarkson (25-13-2).

Clarkson took the lead five minutes into the first period on a power-play tally. The Badgers outshot the Golden Knights 14-4 in the period but the game went into the first intermission with a 1-0 Clarkson lead.

Wisconsin scored two unanswered in the second period to give UW a 2-1 lead at the end of the second frame. Eleven minutes into the period, Casey O'Brien fed Murphy who found some space in the left faceoff circle and one-timed the puck top-shelf where mom hides the cookies. Gorbatenko scored one second after a Badger power play ended with 2:23 on the clock to give Wisconsin the lead. Gorbatenko charged in from the blueline and beat Clarkson netminder Holly Gruber with a tight-angle backhand.

The Wisconsin penalty killers made an impact in the third, killing off a Clarkson power play about halfway through the frame. The Badger power-play unit then turned the tides in Wisconsin's favor, giving them a 3-1 lead. Simms sent a pass across the slot to Edwards, who was ready to send a slap shot past the right pad of Gruber. 

The Badgers went back to the penalty kill with just over two minutes remaining in the third. Clarkson pulled their netminder to give them a 6-on-4 advantage. Eden managed to break free with a look on the empty net but was tripped up. The penalty was called, and by rule, the Badgers were awarded an automatic goal to secure a 4-1 victory.

Ava McNaughton made 19 saves to earn her 34th win of the season, which ranks second in school history and also leads the country. McNaughton only trails Kristen Campbell, who had 35 in the 2018-19 campaign.

Notes of the Game

• Wisconsin advanced to its 16th Frozen Four appearance, tied with Minnesota for the most in NCAA history.   
• Casey O'Brien now has 85 points this year, which ranks second in school history. Meghan Duggan holds the record of 87 set during the 2010-11 season. 
• O'Brien became only the fourth NCAA player to record 60 points in a season, joining the likes of Natalie Darwitz (Minnesota, 2004-05), Jennifer Botterill  (Harvard 2002-03) and Krissy Wendell (Minnesota, 2004-05). 
• Wisconsin outshot Clarkson 38-20. 

Straight from the Rink
Head Coach Mark Johnson
On today's game:
"I'm excited. Since the format has gone to the way we do it now, this game is the biggest challenge. You're part of the NCAA tournament, but you're not at the Frozen Four. There's a big difference. I give the players a lot of credit, they battled this afternoon and found a way to win a hockey game. As I said at practice the other day, 'let's make sure we're practicing Monday.' We're practicing Monday, so that's a good thing."

On Ava Murphy's goal tonight:
"She did a nice job with getting some pucks through in her shots from the point. And then, were we gonna score? You get feelings in the first period and part of the second that it might be one of those days where we're not going to get one. I think with her scoring that goal, you saw the crowd get excited, and you saw the bench get excited, and it's almost like it relaxed us. It was a big goal for us for a lot of different reasons."

On Saturday's win being a full team effort:
"It's fun to watch some of the players that don't always get talked to or their names in the paper or interviewed have an impact. As we all know, it takes the entire group for us have success at different points in the season. If you go back with every play we've had, they've had an impact on a game and they've done something in a real positive way. That's why we're in the position we are, because we've had a team that's been able to have different contributions from a lot of different people."

Junior blueliner Caroline Harvey
On what took to come back from the 1-0 deficit:
"In between periods [the focus] is more so on getting calm again, knowing we got it, being composed, because we felt like we had more in the tank, especially heading into the second, we probably didn't put our best foot forward initially, but it's okay. We knew we were gonna come back and we had it in us and we just had more effort to give and we did that in the 2nd period and then it was a snowball effect going into the 3rd and the rest of the game."

Sophomore forward Kelly Gorbatenko
On the sequence leading to the game-winning goal:
"I saw K.K. (Harvey) go drive wide earlier, so I was like, OK, I'll try that too. I just drove on the net and was able to get away from the first defender. I was just trying to get a shot on net, and I was a little surprised myself a little bit there that it went in, but I was just so excited for our team because we had a couple of shifts before that and we were in their offensive zone the entire time, so it was good just to kind of capitalize on a great team effort there."

Sophomore defender Ava Murphy
On her equalizer in the second period
"I saw an opening down low, so I decided to jump into it, and I saw Casey O'Brien had the puck, and she's obviously a very talented player, so I knew she could get it to me. I just kind of put everything into it that I had and I was lucky enough it went in."

Up Next: The Badgers will face Minnesota for the sixth time this season in the semifinals of the 2025 NCAA Women's Frozen Four at Ridder Arena in Minneapolis. The game will air live on ESPN+.