The Wisconsin women’s hockey team earned a record-tying sixth straight trip to the Frozen Four with a 4-0 victory over Syracuse on Saturday. Senior captain and Patty Kazmaier top-three finalist Annie Pankowski scored twice in the second period, and juniors Abby Roque and Presley Norby each added a goal in the third period to lead the Badgers to the win. It was the third straight NCAA quarterfinal shutout for Wisconsin, which hasn’t allowed a goal in the opening round of the NCAA tournament since its 2015 defeat of Boston University.
The game got off to a slower start than the Badgers would have liked, as Syracuse slowed the game down and worked to keep Wisconsin from settling into their game. The Orange finished the game with 21 blocks, and junior goalie Ady Cohen had a career-high 43 saves.
Their best offensive chances came early, as well. Freshman Abby Moloughney’s breakaway could have been a turning point, but Badgers goalie junior Kristen Campbell made the save and kept the Orange off the board.
“The first period we were fighting the puck a bit,” said Wisconsin senior Emily Clark.
Syracuse kept the game close through the first period, but the Badgers came out in the second with a bit more confidence. Just two minutes into the second period, junior Alexis Mauermann won the puck in a scuffle along the end boards and passed it back to senior Clark, who skated it back along the boards before feeding it to Pankowski, who was alone in the near faceoff circle and beat Cohen top shelf on the near post at a seemingly impossible angle to open the scoring for the Badgers.
Pankowski said she felt the change in demeanor on the bench once the Badgers had their first goal, and the team relaxed a bit.
Ten minutes later, Pankowski had the puck along the far boards near the blue line. She fed it to Clark and broke toward the center of the zone while Clark drew two defenders before feeding Pankowski with a perfect pass. Pankowski had nothing but time and space and beat Cohen with a wrister to make it 2-0 Wisconsin.
“We found a way in the second period to really take charge of the game,” said Pankowski.
The Badgers continued to wear Syracuse down and in the third, junior Abby Roque broke the game open and put it out of reach. The Orange had just completed an unsuccessful power play when Roque pressured the defense in their own end. She stole the puck and looped around the back of the net to sneak the puck into the net before Cohen could cover the post to make it 3-0 Wisconsin. Norby finished the scoring with a wrister from right in front of the crease to give the Badgers the 4-0 lead.
Wisconsin advances to face Clarkson in the national semifinal on Friday. The Golden Knights are the two-time defending national champions. They beat the Badgers in the championship game in 2017, and Pankowski said that after the Badgers win the players looked to see the other quarterfinal outcomes. For the players who lost that game, getting a chance for redemption is something they’re looking forward to.
“Everyone was like ‘Let’s go. We’re ready for this,'” said Pankowski.
Syracuse is one of a few teams that played both Wisconsin and Clarkson this year, and coach Paul Flanagan had nothing but positive things to say about the Badgers.
“I keep going back to the way Wisconsin works and how fundamentally sound they are. You work hard and you’re fundamentally sound and you have a lot of talent, that’s pretty scary. I’d be really surprised if they’re not hoisting the trophy next Sunday,” he said.
