MADISON, Wis. – The second-ranked Wisconsin women's hockey team reached its 30th win of the season thanks to a 4-2 victory over St. Thomas in the first round of the WCHA Playoffs on Friday night at LaBahn Arena. 

Kirsten Simms tallied a pair of goals, while Lacey Eden and Britta Curl also found the back of the net as the Badgers (30-5-0, 24-5-0-2-1-0 WCHA) picked up their first win of the postseason against the Tommies (10-25-1, 4-24-1-1-0-1 WCHA). 

After a quiet first period, Simms broke the silence early in the second frame with a laser from the left side. 

Eden doubled the lead halfway through the second period after tapping in a Laney Potter rebound for her 50th point of the season, but the Tommies were able to make it a one-goal game just under two minutes later. 

Simms lit the lamp for the second time after catching the St. Thomas netminder off guard to make it a 3-1 game halfway through the third slate. 

St. Thomas answered back, but not long before Curl tallied her 19th goal of the season off a perfect setup from Simms to make it 4-2 Wisconsin. 

Jane Gervais stopped 11 of the shots she faced for her 15th win of the season. 

Three Notes of the Game
- For the 10th time in program history, the Badgers picked up their 30th win in a season. Alongside WCHA rival Ohio State, Wisconsin became the first team in the country to reach 30 victories. 
- Junior Lacey Eden became the fourth Wisconsin player to hit 50 points this season thanks to her goal in the second period. 
- Thanks to a three-point night tonight, Kirsten Simms moved into a tie for 10th place in school history for most points in a single season with 64. 

Straight from the Rink
Head Coach Mark Johnson
On the overall game: 
"​​Each game you learn new things and for the first playoff game, an understanding of what's at stake. We need to be a little sharper in these areas of the game. They're working all week on what they can do to disrupt us and then try to take advantage of them and they blocked 14 shots in the first period. So that tells you they're into the game and they're going to do things to keep the puck out of the scoring area."

Sophomore Kirsten Simms
On St. Thomas' competitive play:
"I just think that they're a team that likes to chip away. They'll work hard until the end of the game and they'll throw everything at us. Once we get into the groove of our game, we kind of took over and had good puck possession, but they definitely like to wear us out a little bit."

On playing tough in the postseason:
"Obviously it's playoff hockey. We like to call it the second part of the season. Everyone has zero wins, zero losses, zero ties. It's a new game no matter who you're going against. You just need to clean up a little bit and just play your game."

Up Next: The Badgers will face the Tommies again on Saturday in a 4 p.m. contest at LaBahn Arena. A limited number of tickets are available on UWBadgers.Com. Fans can also watch the games on Big Ten Plus or listen to the game on The Game 1070.