Jungels, Simms, and Edwards scored for Wisconsin, melting Colgate in the NCAA women's hockey Frozen Four to advance to the national final game against Ohio State.
Jungels, Simms, and Edwards scored for Wisconsin, melting Colgate in the NCAA women's hockey Frozen Four to advance to the national final game against Ohio State.
DURHAM, New Hampshire -- The night before two of Wisconsin's top players are due to stand in the spotlight, Vivian Jungels, Ava McNaughton and the Badgers penalty killers stole a bit of it for themselves.
Jungels delivered the eventual game-winner and McNaughton finished with 22 saves as defending the NCAA champion Badgers punched their return ticket to the final with a 3-1 win over Colgate Friday night.
The Badgers protected a 1-0 lead behind the freshman goaltender's steady play, before Jungels chipped in an insurance goal at 11:29 of the third period. Senior Britta Curl sent a cross-ice pass to Jungels, who fired a wrist shot past Raiders goaltender Kayle Osborne from the left circle.
"Britta Curl passed it to me, it was an amazing look by her," Jungels said. "That usually isn't my role on the team, but I think being a team player and just accept your role and push that out to the best of your ability."
While skating with the extra attacker, Colgate's Kristyna Kaltounkova struck from the right edge of the crease with 2:10 to play. But Laila Edwards chipped in an empty net goal with 12 seconds remaining, giving the Badgers an opportunity to battle for their record eighth title.
McNaughton stopped 14 of 15 shots in the third period, including Raiders sophomore Elyssa Biederman on a breakaway at 3:33.
"I think (defender Caroline Harvey) was probably the happiest person on the ice when the glove came up and the puck was in it," Badgers coach Mark Johnson said. "We needed (McNaughton), especially at the start of the third period, where she made a couple saves some of the turnovers that we made."
The Wisconsin victory sets up a rematch of conference rivals, who squared off in the 2023 NCAA title game, as well as this season's WCHA Championship. The Badgers won both, 1-0 and 6-1, respectively. The top-ranked Buckeyes defeated Clarkson, 4-1, Friday afternoon to advance.
Kirsten Simms finished with a goal and and Casey O'Brien collected two assists. The two, along with Cornell's Izzy Daniel, will be recognized at a ceremony Saturday for the Patty Kazmaier Award, which recognizes the top women's college player. The winner will be announced at 12:30 p.m.
But while Simms' and O'Brien's prolific offenses have keyed Wisconsin through the season, the Badgers penalty killing unit made the difference Friday. It went 5-for-5, which included a two-minute 3-on-5. Wisconsin also had to contend with an 84 second delayed penalty while Colgate skated with an extra attacker.
Midway through the second period, the Badgers withstood nearly 3 1/2 minutes at a disadvantage.
Colgate milked a delayed call for hooking on Wisconsin's Maddi Wheeler. During the stretch, Cassie Hall took a penalty for tripping. When the Badgers finally touched the puck, they found themselves down two players.
The Raiders ended up with 10 shot attempts during the stretch, but only three which made it to McNaughton. Colgate's best chance came from Kaltounkova at the edge of the crease, but her shot hit the goalie's helmet.
"I thought that was an important part of the game, and our power play has been so good all year long," Colgate coach Greg Fargo said. "You get to this stage, you think you're not going to get too many looks, and tonight we did get a handful of looks. The 5-on-3 was a key moment of the game where we wish we could have got at least one there to tie it up."
Adding to Colgate's uphill climb in the third was the loss of reigning NCAA career points leader Danielle Serdachny. The fifth-year forward fell awkwardly on her right arm after being tripped by Wheeler early in the period. Serdachny skated a couple shifts after, but eventually left for the locker room with 11 minutes to play.
But when the Raiders captain returned with just three minutes off the clock, Jungels had put Wisconsin ahead 2-0.
"Even when you see her go down and come off holding her shoulder you know she's going to find a way to go back on the ice," Fargo said of Serdachny. "It's just indicative of who she is as a person, how much she cares about her team, and how much she wants to help the team succeed. She's been like that her entire career, and so there was to no one surprised tonight that it was the same."
The final will air Sunday at 4 p.m. ET on ESPNU in the United States and TSN+ in Canada.