Wisconsin women's hockey rewrites record book with 17-2 win
The Wisconsin Badgers closed non-conference play with their most dominant win in program history
Finley McCarthy set the tone on the first shift. Twenty-two seconds after the puck dropped to begin the first period of play, the sophomore forward scored her first goal of the season, giving Wisconsin women’s hockey a 1-0 lead over the Stonehill Skyhawks.
It snowballed from there, as the Wisconsin Badgers (16-1-1) rewrote the record book with a 17-2 win, UW’s most dominant single-game effort in program history.
The Badgers’ 17 goals set a new single-game high-water mark, eclipsing the previous program record set in a 16-1 win over the Lindenwood Lions in September of 2023. That 15-goal margin of victory is the widest of any win by Wisconsin ever, and UW tied that mark on Sunday while setting a new single-game record of 87 shots on goal. Only once ever before in program history had Wisconsin hit 80, in a 12-0 win over the Long Island University Sharks inside Nassau Coliseum on October 19th, 2019.
Beyond a bevy of team-best marks, several Wisconsin Badgers recorded individual firsts, set career-highs, or met notable program-record marks. UW’s most impressive individual effort, however, came from its least likely candidate.
McKayla Zilisch scores, ties 14-year record
McKayla Zilisch entered the weekend with just one assist on the season, equal to half her statistical output from her first year in Madison. On Sunday, she defied all expectations and put on one of the most impressive performances of any player in program history.
Zilisch joined the Badgers last season after spending two years with the Bemidji State Beavers. In her first three collegiate seasons, the senior tallied one goal and six assists. Before this weekend, she had not scored a goal since her rookie year at BSU.
That 1,024-day goal drought emphatically came to an end against Stonehill. Despite spending the first 1:40 of the second period in the penalty box after committing an interference penalty at the close of the opening frame, Zilisch scored three times on three shots in the second.
The Appleton, Wisconsin native tied a program record, becoming just the fifth Badger to ever score three goals in a single period. The last to do so was Brooke Ammerman, who earned a hat trick in the first period of a game against the Robert Morris Colonials on November 19th, 2011.
Those three goals helped set a new UW record with nine goals in any period, surpassing the eight first-period goals Wisconsin scored against Lindenwood on September 27th, 2024, and against Bemidji State on March 1st of this year.
Wisconsin recorded 35 shots in the second, toppling a program record for shots in a period set over a decade ago. The Badgers logged 32 shots in the first period against the Minnesota State Mavericks on November 13th, 2014. UW’s 29 third-period shots against Stonehill on Sunday are its fifth-most in a period all-time.
Zilisch also logged a first-period assist, matching forward Kirsten Simms’ stat line of three goals and one assist. Simms and Laila Edwards were the last Wisconsin women’s hockey duo to record hat tricks in the same game in a 10-0 win at Bemidji State on February 9th, 2024.
Laila Edwards joins 100-assists club
Edwards led the country in goals a season ago as a winger, but she has spent most of this season lined up at defense for UW to prepare for her role with Team USA. Outside of this weekend, the senior has played on the Badger blue line in all but one game. This weekend, with rookie Mackenzie Jones at defender, Edwards played on the wing for the first time since September 27th.
While helping Wisconsin to a tournament championship at the Smashville Showcase, the Cleveland Heights, Ohio native put on a playmaking showcase of her own. She had two assists in a win on Saturday over Mercyhurst before adding a goal and another four helpers against the Skyhawks.
With her performance on Sunday, Edwards set single-game and career milestones. Her five points tied a career-high, while four assists set a new high-water mark. Wisconsin’s alternate captain has now tallied 101 assists for UW, becoming the 14th Badger to eclipse the century mark.
Emptying the notebook: lineup, Eden, Stewart, Hall, Harvey
It was a real mix-it-up day in the forward lineup. Only the line of Simms-Adéla Šapovalivová-Lacey Eden was untouched between games one and two on the weekend. In each game Johnson has had that full trio available, they have lined up together.
With an eight-point weekend, Eden finished her race to 200 career points. She becomes the ninth Badger ever to reach that mark, joining her linemate, Simms. Eden’s first-period power-play goal proved to be the game-winner. She is now tied with Jinelle Zaugg (2004-08) for the seventh-most goals in program history, has surpassed Hockey Hall of Famer Brianna Decker (2009-13) for sixth-most power play goals in program history, and eclipsed Sara Bauer’s (2003-07) 18 game-winners for the seventh-most by a Badger.
Goaltender Rhyah Stewart earned her first collegiate start in net. The rookie allowed two goals on 15 shots. The first blemish came as a result of a turnover on a breakout pass, and the latter due to a bad line change by Wisconsin that allowed Stonehill forward Gracie Sacca a breakaway opportunity.
Cassie Hall tallied two goals and two assists, tying a career-high set in her second-ever game with the Badgers. Her first-ever shorthanded goal gave Wisconsin a 16-1 lead, tying UW’s previous program record for goals in a game before sophomore Maggie Scannell notched the 17th.
After setting a WCHA career-scoring record for most points by a defender on Saturday, Caroline Harvey set a new personal best on Sunday. She tallied four assists, extending her point streak to 15 games, breaking her previous-best mark of 14 games in a row on the stat sheet. Harvey currently leads the country in scoring with 37 points, just ahead of Simms’ and Eden’s 32 each. The two-time All-American’s 28 assists are nine more than Simms’ and Eden’s 19, which tie for the second-most nationally.
Up next for Wisconsin women’s hockey: No. 1 at No. 2 Ohio State
As impressive and unique as the Wisconsin Badgers' domination was, it came against lesser competition. UW remains the consensus top-ranked team in the country in the eyes of voters in both polls; meanwhile, Stonehill is rated 36th out of 45 Division I women’s ice hockey teams, according to the NCAA Power Index.
The competition becomes more evenly matched next weekend, as the Badgers travel to Columbus, Ohio, for a two-game series against the No. 2 Ohio State Buckeyes. UW and OSU have met in each of the past three national title games, and have combined to win each of the past six NCAA Tournaments.
This article has been edited to correct a factual error. A previous version indicated Zilisch had been a healthy scratch from Wisconsin’s matchup against Mercyhurst.
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