<p>ERIE, Pa. — Casey O’Brien and Caitlin Schneider both had a goal and two assists as Wisconsin’s third line staked the Badgers to a 3-0 lead and they held on to defeat rival Ohio State 4-2 in the Frozen Four on Thursday night.</p>
<p>Senior captain <a href="https://twitter.com/BadgerWHockey/status/1372720319144861702">Daryl Watts had a steal and scored into an empty net</a> with 13.9 seconds to play for the second-seeded Badgers, who go for their sixth championship against top-seeded Northeastern on Saturday. </p>
<p>Wisconsin is the defending champion since the NCAA Tournament was canceled by the coronavirus pandemic last year. </p>
<p>The Badgers (16-3-1) struck early as <a href="https://twitter.com/BadgerWHockey/status/1372687899402047490">O’Brien and Schneider assisted on Makenna Webster’s seventh goal</a> of the season just 1:19 into the game. </p>
<p>They also struck early in the second period with <a href="https://twitter.com/BadgerWHockey/status/1372699901251977217">O’Brien getting her second goal</a> and then <a href="https://twitter.com/BadgerWHockey/status/1372703298097188865">Schneider got her third</a>, with Webster also picking up an assist.</p>
<p>With six minutes to play in the second period, <a href="https://twitter.com/OhioStateWHKY/status/1372706021446066176"> Gabby Rosenthal put Ohio State</a> (13-7) on the board with her fifth goal. <a href="https://twitter.com/OhioStateWHKY/status/1372714427741446156">Sara Saekkinen’s second goal</a> with 12:05 left in the third period made it 3-2.</p>
<p>That that would be it as Wisconsin goalie Kennedy Blair matched her season high with 37 assists. </p>
<p> Wisconsin defeated Providence 3-0 in the quarterfinals, its fifth straight quarterfinal shutout, to make its record seventh straight Frozen Four, breaking its tie with Minnesota. A championship would tie the Golden Gophers’ record of six.</p>
<p>The teams were meeting for the sixth time this season and 100th time in their history. They split during the regular season before Wisconsin won the WCHA league tournament 3-2 in overtime 10 days ago. Five games were decided by one goal with the Badgers also posting a 5-0 win.</p>
