MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. – In a thrilling Saturday afternoon showdown, the No. 3 Wisconsin women's hockey team scored five unanswered goals to take down the No. 2 Minnesota Golden Gophers, 5-1, at Ridder Arena. 

Lacey Eden tallied a pair of goals while Kelly Gorbatenko, Kirsten Simms and Britta Curl each found the back of the net as the Badgers (14-4-0, 10-4-0-0-1-0 WCHA) split the series with the Golden Gophers (14-3-1, 10-3-1-0-1-1 WCHA). 

After a scoreless first period, the Gophers struck first early in the second frame, taking advantage of a 3-on-1 rush to grab a 1-0 lead. 

In the second frame, Eden came screaming off the bench to steal the puck for a shorthanded goal, before Gobatenko gave the Badgers their first lead of the day, scoring a power-play tally. 

Unsatisfied with just one, Eden extended the lead to 3-1 early in the third period with a shot through the five-hole. 

Simms joined in on the fun with her second of the weekend, while Curl capped off the scoring with 1:32 left in the third to put the game out of reach. 

Freshman Ava McNaughton stopped 23 of the shots she faced for her seventh win of the season. 

Three Notes of the Game
- Thanks to a goal and an assist against the Gophers, Simms now leads the WCHA in points with 34. Wisconsin holds six of the top 10 spots on the conference leaderboard for points. 
- Eden's shorthanded goal marked her second of the year and the first given up by Minnesota this season. 
- UW outshot Minnesota 41 to 24 and had a 77 to 46 advantage on the weekend. 

Straight from the Rink
Head Coach Mark Johnson
On putting forth full effort against the Gophers:
"Last night I thought we played pretty well, we capitalized on the power play, but they scored some goals that kept us on our heels. We talked about having the same effort today and if we do that, eventually we're going to get a bounce in or a break and we capitalized on those things today."

Junior Lacey Eden
On making adjustments after Friday's loss:
"The Border Battle always brings out a lot of emotions. Yesterday gave us a couple of things to reflect on and we went back and watched video of a couple things that we could work on, and how to shut them down and capitalize on our opportunities. I think that showed today and we really clicked in a lot of areas that we didn't as much yesterday."

On her shorthanded goal:
"It was a huge kill by our team, you know a 5-on-3 with their type of team is really dangerous, so it was an awesome team effort to come up with that kill. Just coming onto the ice, I saw that Minnesota didn't see me coming and Casey was able to poke it right out to me, and there was no looking back for me. I saw where I wanted to shoot when I was around the blue line and just took it in" 

Up Next: The Badgers return to action in the New Year when they host Merrimack on Jan. 5 and 6 at LaBahn Arena. Puck drop on Friday is set for 7 p.m., while Saturday's series final will begin at 5 p.m. Both games are sold out.