Wisconsin
Sawyer Scholl’s game-winner helps No. 4 Wisconsin hockey complete sweep of Notre Dame
MADISON – The first game-winner of Sawyer Scholl’s college career was one of those bang-bang plays that didn’t leave him much time to think.
“I was lucky for it to pop up to me and then I just kind of stuffed it,” he said. “I don’t think too much when I get it that low, I just try to get it at the net and was lucky enough to get it in.”
The goal by the freshman from Medford came at the 13-minute 52-second mark of the third period and proved to be the difference in a 3-2 Wisconsin victory over Notre Dame in front of 12,672 at the Kohl Center on Saturday night.
The score was part of a wild final period that featured four goals, five penalties and one ejection. The win, meanwhile, gave the fourth-ranked Badgers their first wire-to-wire conference win since beating Notre Dame on Jan. 6 and a four-game season sweep of the Fighting Irish.
They accomplished the feat by holding Notre Dame to just 25 shots on goal, the third-lowest for a UW Big Ten opponent this season.
“I thought we defended our tail off tonight,” Wisconsin coach Mike Hastings said. “Kind of crazy game there in the third period with what happened. I thought the guys showed some composure. We talked at the beginning of our season that everybody matters and tonight you saw that.”
The win allowed Wisconsin (22-6-2, 13-4-1 – 41 points) to remain five points behind Michigan State in the Big Ten standings. The Spartans, who have played two more games than the Badgers, completed a sweep of Michigan on Saturday night.
Seven players accounted for the eight points scored by Wisconsin with Scholl, freshman William Whitelaw and sophomore Simon Tassy scoring goals. The only multi-point scorer was freshman defenseman Joe Palodichuk, who had two assists.
At the other end, senior Kyle McClellan didn’t allow a goal during the first two periods and finished with 23 saves.
“When we can come out of our end together and entered their end together we’re a much better hockey team,” Hastings said. “I thought we did a good job of breaking pucks out this weekend. It’s something the guys focused on this week and I thought they executed very well.”
Scholl’s goal gave Wisconsin a 3-1 lead. After a Notre Dame turnover near the blue line, Scholl passed the puck ahead to Cruz Lucius. Lucius didn’t have a good angle but his shot bounced off the side of the net and ended up behind the goal where where Scholl recovered it, reversed course and dumped it into the net.
Notre Dame goaltender Ryan Bischel didn’t have a chance to make the stop because UW’s Owen Mehlenbacher had crashed into the goal after getting tripped by a Fighting Irish player.
At least that’s the way the UW staff saw it. After a video review the officials didn’t take the goal off the board.
“All you could see on the replay was Mehlenbacher going into the net,” Hastings said. “I talked to (assistant coach) Nick Oliver and I said ask our (director of hockey operations) Luke Regner. Let me know if he was pushed in and that is what my guys said. He got tripped going into the net, so he didn’t go in there on his own power.”
Wisconsin allowed the first goal in four of its previous five games. Whitelaw allowed the Badgers to break that trend at the 6-minute mark of the first period off an assist from sophomore Tyson Dyck and Palodichuk.
“It was puck pressure and it created a turnover,” Hastings said. “That’s one young man that when he’s in that area he’s very comfortable. He was able to get his head up and find a hole. You saw what he can do under pressure last week in the shootout where I think he gets excited about that. He doesn’t fade. He doesn’t shy away.”
Notre Dame tied the game about 5 minutes into the final period with a power play goal by Landon Slaggert. The Badgers’ response came at the 9:39 mark on a power play goal by Tassy, the team’s first power play score in three-plus games.
Palodichuck and sophomore Christian Fitzgerald got the assists on the play.
“Our first unit was all over them. The second should have probably had one or two, so it was good to be able to get one,” Tassy said. “Our power play has been struggling a little bit, so being able to get a tip like that might get some momentum going for us.”
Scholl’s score gave the Badgers a two-score cushion that proved valuable when Notre Dame’s Cole Knuble cut the deficit to one with 3:47 left.
The victory sets up the Badgers up for a chance to take over first place in the Big Ten next week at Ohio State. Michigan State is idle next weekend, so with two wins UW would move ahead of the Spartans in the standings.
In a bit of a surprise, Wisconsin Badgers starting center Jake Renfro is using a medical hardship year and entering the transfer portal for his final season of eligibility.
Renfro, a sixth-year senior in 2024, battled numerous injuries this season, limiting him to only four games after having season-ending surgery. He was a full-time starter for Wisconsin in 2024 after missing the entire 2023 season except for the team’s bowl game due to injury.
Prior to his time at Wisconsin, Renfro had played for head coach Luke Fickell at Cincinnati for three seasons. He played in seven games as a freshman in 2020, making six starts at center. He then was the full-time starter as a sophomore in 2021, earning All-AAC honors before missing the entire 2022 season due to injury.
Now, he’s set to come back to college football for a seventh year, rather than turn pro, and will look to do so at another school.
“I want to thank Coach Fickell, the entire coaching and training staff, my teammates, and the University of Wisconsin for everything over the past three seasons,” Renfro wrote. “I am grateful for the support, development, friendships, and memories I have made during my time in Madison. After much prayer and consideration, I have decided to enter the transfer portal and use a medical hardship year to continue my college football journey. I will always appreciate my time as a Badger.”
Renfro was one of the biggest supporters of Fickell publicly, being a vocal leader on the team as the starting center.
With his departure, Wisconsin could need a new starting left tackle, left guard, and center next season, depending on whether Joe Brunner heads to the NFL or returns for another season.
Wisconsin volleyball coach Kelly Sheffield discusses tournament win
Wisconsin volleyball coach Kelly Sheffield commented on the Badgers’ ‘huge’ win over North Carolina in the second round of the NCAA tournament.
MADISON — It did not take long for Alicia Andrew to text her younger sister after watching the NCAA volleyball selection show with her Wisconsin teammates in a lounge area in the south end zone of Camp Randall Stadium.
“I was like, ‘Girl!’” Andrew said. “She’s like, ‘I know! I’ll see you in Texas! And I was like, ‘I’m so excited!’”
Andrew will not see her younger sister in the Gregory Gym stands like any other family members, but rather on the court as an opposing player in the Badgers’ NCAA tournament regional semifinal match against Stanford.
Alicia Andrew is a 6-foot-3 redshirt senior middle blocker for Wisconsin. Lizzy Andrew is a 6-foot-5 sophomore middle blocker for Stanford. The sisters will play against each other for the first time with a spot in the NCAA regional finals on the line.
“Certainly when you’re having two high-level Division I starters on teams that are top five, top 10 in the country playing the same position, that’s pretty unique,” Wisconsin coach Kelly Sheffield said. “They’re both talented and competitive. But I also know that the players aren’t going to make it about themselves or the person that’s on the other side of the net. They’re parts of teams that are trying to move on and move forward and play great volley.”
Alicia has naturally fielded questions about the sibling rivalry, but she is “not reading too much into rivalry stuff and just playing this sport.”
“It’s another game,” she said after a recent UW practice. “Yes, it’s her across the net. But it’s a business. We both want to move on to the next round.”
Both players have played key parts in their respective teams’ path to this stage.
Alicia, after transferring from Baylor, is the only UW player to appear in all 98 sets this season and one of five to appear in all 30 matches. She is second on the team with 111 blocks, barely trailing fellow middle blocker Carter Booth’s 119.
“Really wants to be good for the people around her,” Sheffield said of Alicia. “Wants to do her job. Takes pride in her job. There’s a maturity, but yet there’s a playfulness that is a really good balance for her. Love coaching her. She’s wired the right way. She really is.”
Lizzy, meanwhile, ranks seventh in the country with a .441 hitting percentage in 2025 after earning a spot on the all-ACC freshman team in 2024. She also has experience playing with the U.S. U21 national team.
“I’m so proud of how hard she worked and her journey to Stanford,” Alicia said. “She puts in so much work, and she just loves the sport of volleyball. And I have loved watching her grow. It’s been fun to see her get better and better every year. And this past season, she’s been playing lights out.”
That pride has turned Alicia into a frequent viewer of ACC volleyball, of course whenever it has not conflicted with the Badgers’ own matches.
“We try to watch as many of each other’s games as we can, and I always just love watching her play,” she said. “I’m so proud of her. She’s just worked her tail off at Stanford, so to see her excel has been so fun.”
The Andrew sisters — Alicia, Lizzy and Natalie, who is on the rowing team at the U.S. Naval Academy — competed together in high school. (They also have a younger brother, William.) Competing against each other is a new concept for them, though.
“We’re not huge trash talkers, neither one of us,” Alicia said. “So I think that she’s going to play her game. I’m going to play my game. We’re going to have our heads down. There might be some looking across and smiling because we make the exact same expressions and quirky faces and reactions.”
The sisters don’t look the same – Lizzy has blonde hair and Alicia has brown hair. But Alicia quickly sees the resemblance with those on-court mannerisms.
“If there’s a silly play or if there is like a really unexpected dump or something, she’ll turn around and make the exact same face that I will,” Alicia said. “And it’s funny watching her on TV because I’m like, ‘Wow, that looks scary familiar.’”
They have some similarities off the court, too.
“We’re just goobers,” Alicia said. “We just like to have a good time together. Obviously she’s my little sister, but we have always been a close family — like all the siblings — so I feel like we’ve done all the things together growing up in all the sports.”
The Andrew parents are perhaps the biggest winners of the NCAA tournament bracket.
“My parents were super excited,” Alicia said. “They don’t have to split the travel plan, so they can save some frequent flyer miles there and both be in Texas. … They’re always trying to coordinate all the schedules.”
The Andrew family made T-shirts for the unique sisterly matchup. (Alicia thinks she is getting one considering they asked her and Lizzy for their shirt sizes in the family group chat.) The shirts are black, too, so there is no favoritism between Wisconsin and Stanford’s variations of cardinal red.
“They have a Stanford ‘S’ and a tree on it and then a Wisconsin ‘W’ and a little Badger on it, too,” Andrew said. “They’re really excited about these shirts. They’re being non-biased; they’re repping both daughters.”
RICHMOND TOWNSHIP, Wis. (FOX 9) – A crash in western Wisconsin killed an 8-year-old boy and seriously injured a 27-year-old Wednesday morning.
Fatal crash in Richmond Township, Wisconsin
What we know:
According to St. Croix County, just before 10 a.m., deputies responded to a crash on the 1500 block of County Road A.
Authorities say that a 27-year-old woman was driving a van southbound, and lost control on an icy curve and collided with another vehicle.
The woman suffered serious injuries from the crash and was taken to the hospital to be treated, law enforcement said. The boy was critically injured, and was also taken to the hospital, where he later died.
Both were wearing seat belts during the crash.
The driver of the other vehicle was treated for minor injuries at the scene and was released.
This is the 10th traffic fatality in St. Croix County.
What we don’t know:
The current condition of the woman is unknown.
The Source: A press release from St. Croix County Sheriff’s Office.
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