MADISON, Wis. – The No. 3 Wisconsin women's hockey team extended its winning streak to five games after defeating St. Thomas, 5-1, on Sunday afternoon at LaBahn Arena. 

Casey O'Brien tallied a pair of goals, while Kirsten Simms, Lacey Eden and Cassie Hall each added a score as the Badgers (18-4-0, 12-4-0-0-1-0 WCHA) completed the season sweep of the Tommies (7-16-0, 1-15-0-0-0-0 WCHA). 

Halfway into the first period, Simms capitalized on a pass from Laila Edwards to get the Badgers on the board first.

O'Brien lit the lamp with just 29 seconds left in the opening period before scoring another to open the second frame. 

Finding the back of the net on the power play, Eden tallied her first of the weekend in the third period. Hall also grabbed a score on the power play just over a minute later, her third goal of the weekend.

Ava McNaughton stopped 18 of the shots she faced for her ninth win of the season. 

Three Notes of the Game
- The Badgers improved to 11-0-0 all-time against St. Thomas, outscoring the Tommies 58-9.
- Thanks to their sweep, the Badgers moved into second place in the WCHA standings with 37 points. Ohio State leads the league with 43 points 
- Casey O'Brien's goal in the first period marks her 16th career game-winning goal. The forward from Milton, Massachusetts now ranks eighth in school history in game-winning tallies. 

Straight from the Rink
Head Coach Mark Johnson
On focusing on the road ahead:
"Now it's time to get down and focus on the things we need to do. We are in pretty good shape right now, we just have to go on the road and see what we're capable of doing up in Mankato and get to Duluth to see where we are at. It will be challenging the rest of the way, there are no easy games left."

Senior Casey O'Brien
On a successful weekend:
"I think between the two games, it was really nice to see the production coming from different lines. I think it was awesome for Woz (Sarah Wozniewicz) to get that hat trick yesterday. Cassie (Hall) has been on fire lately, and so I think when we're producing from all three lines, we're at our best. We did have a few lapses in the game where we kind of loosened up and stopped playing as tight defensively. I think going forward, we're going to have to tighten that up if we, you know, wanna just keep it tight all against better teams. I'm really happy with the way we play, the way we closed it out, and I just wish we could have got that shut out for Ava (McNaughton) at the end."

Sophomore Laila Edwards
On making a statement in conference play:
"I think our team is making a statement to the conference every time we play. I thought we were good coming off the break against Merrimack and then right back in the conference. We made a statement, and we took it to St. Thomas the first game. We're able to be consistent throughout the second game. I think our team is getting better and better every game."

Up Next: The Badgers will head to Mankato, Minnesota to take on Minnesota State this weekend. Puck drop on Friday at the Mayo Clinic Health System Event Center is  at 6 p.m. with Saturday's game to start at 3 p.m.