MINNEAPOLIS — The dream of a three-peat is still alive.

Just barely.

The University of Wisconsin women's hockey team emerged with a 3-2 overtime win over Minnesota in an NCAA tournament quarterfinal Saturday night at Ridder Arena thanks to freshman forward Mallory Deluce's goal 1 minute, 29 seconds into the extra session.

The two-time defending NCAA champion Badgers advance to face top-seeded Harvard (32-1) on Thursday at the Frozen Four in Duluth, Minn.

UW (28-8-3) has its freshman forwards to thank for that third straight Frozen Four berth.

"They have stepped up so much since the beginning of the season," said senior forward Jinelle Zaugg, who assisted on Deluce's game-winner. "We really rely on them a lot since they are able to put the puck in the net. That is awesome for them and wonderful for our program."

Kelly Nash's seventh goal of the season — a shot on net by junior forward Kayla Hagen that deflected off Nash and past Minnesota freshman goaltender Jenny Lura — gave the Badgers a 1-0 lead 8:19 into the game.

But unlike previous NCAA tournament games, one goal wasn't going to do it.

UW junior goaltender Jessie Vetter, a former Monona Grove athlete, came into the game having allowed just two goals in six career NCAA games — a span of 456 minutes, 50 seconds.

But Gigi Marvin's power-play conversion tied it at 1 with 3:04 left in the first, and Emily West's goal with just a second left in the second gave the Golden Gophers (27-7-4) the lead.

The only other time the Badgers have trailed in the tournament was in a quarterfinal matchup with Mercyhurst on March 18, 2006, a game that turned out to be a 2-1 double-overtime win.

And they weren't behind long in this one, watched by a crowd of 1,458.

Hilary Knight's 20th goal of the season came just 14 seconds into the third to tie things at 2. She beat Lura with a backhander after taking a feed from freshman defenseman Malee Windmeier.

Deluce then punched home her game-winner amid a scramble in front of the net on the second shot of the extra session.

That made up for a less-than-stellar night statistically for Vetter, who finished with 21 saves. She still managed to improve to 7-0 in tournament play, though.

"I give the players a lot of credit after giving up a goal so late in the second period, but we battled back and scored a goal to start the third period," UW coach Mark Johnson said. "That goal got people excited and it then became a game of chess: Who was going to make a mistake or make a play for somebody?

"Fortunately for us, during the overtime period we capitalized on the opportunity that was presented to us."

This one always figured to be close, since only a point separated the rivals during the Western Collegiate Hockey Association regular season standings — Minnesota was second with 44 points, UW third with 43.

The Badgers continued their mastery over the Gophers of late. They improved to 10-0-1 against them in Minnesota since the start of the 2005-06 season, including a 7-0-1 mark at Ridder.

Now, UW will try to knock off Harvard for the second time in as many seasons.

Last year, the Badgers outdueled the Crimson in a marathon NCAA quarterfinal at the Kohl Center, winning 1-0 in three overtimes.