The first half of the hockey season came to a close this afternoon as the Ohio State women faced Minnesota-Duluth once again. Playing from behind the Buckeyes fought back to tie the game twice. In the end, though, the Bulldogs prevailed.
| scoring by period | 1 | 2 | 3 | final |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Minnesota-Duluth | 2 | 2 | 1 | 5 |
| Ohio State | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
The teams skated with energy from the opening faceoff. However both sides remained mindful of their defensive responsibilities. Duluth did a particularly nice job of clogging up the prime scoring real estate in front of goalie Kayla Black.
Michela Cava opened the scoring for UMD. Seven minutes into the first period she edged around the Buckeye defense and beat goaltender Stacy Danczak. Claudia Kepler responded with a highlight reel tally. Shark-like the junior circled the net. She spotted an open corner of net and roofed the puck, tying the game at 1-1.
The tie did not stand for long. With just nine seconds on the clock, Cava struck again. The Bulldogs quickly worked the puck behind the Ohio State defense where the UMD senior camped at the side of the net and cleaned up the rebound.
| pd | time | buckeye goal scorers (assists) |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 16:13 | Claudia Kepler (Melani Moylan, Cara Zubko) |
| 2 | 0:43 | Maddy Field (Maggie Rothgery, Katie Matheny) |
The Buckeyes wasted no time evening the score in the second period. Within the first minute Maddy Field received a long, heads up pass from Maggie Rothgery. The rookie froze the UMD goaltender with some nifty stickhandling and potted her seventh goal of the season.
Unfortunately the tie was once again short lived. At the 4:22 mark Lara Stalder took advantage of some space in the slot to pick the glove side corner on Danczak. That would be the game winner for the Bulldogs.
Ohio State battled to regain momentum in the second period but the team wasn’t able to translate its hard work into a goal. Instead UMD added another tally in the final three minutes of the frame. Again it was Stalder beating Danczak’s glove.
The third period deteriorated into a penalty-ridden affair. The Buckeyes had an opportunity to get back into the game with a two man advantage midway through the stanza. However the extra advantage was cut short by an OSU penalty.
The team’s frustration began to show then as the Bucks began to rack up serious penalty minutes. Field was whistled for a game misconduct. Shortly thereafter the officials dismissed Cara Zubko with a major and misconduct. During the ensuing UMD power play Stalder completed her hat trick bid.
Goalie Danczak, making her sixth start of the season, finished with game with 26 saves. Ohio State went 0-for-3 on the power play. The Bucks’ penalty killers were more successful, fending off six of Duluth’s seven advantages.
This is certainly not the first half finale anyone wanted. The team has a few weeks to regroup and heal up. The squad is off until the first weekend of January when they host Penn State in a non-conference battle.
