The women’s hockey Buckeyes will have to take another stab at record-tying win No. 20. They got behind the eight ball early in Friday’s contest at Minnesota State and, though they battled hard, they couldn’t level the scoreboard back up. Ohio State fell by a final score of 4-1.
| Scoring by Period | 1 | 2 | 3 | Final |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. 5 Ohio State | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Minnesota State | 2 | 1 | 1 | 4 |
Amanda Zeglen got the nod in net for OSU. The freshman took the netminding reins from regular starter Kassidy Sauve. (Who is, so far as I know, not injured or anything. Don’t freak out.)
| Buckeye Goal Scorer (Assists) | Pd | Time |
|---|---|---|
| Grace Zarzecki (Lisa Bruno, Jincy Dunne) | 2 | 7:13 |
It was a rough start for the Buckeye goalie. Lindsey Coleman staked Minnesota State to a 1-0 lead just 29 seconds into the game. Later in the first period, Amanda Conway potted a rebound for a 2-0 MSU advantage.
Grace Zarzecki cut the Mavs’ lead in half in the middle frame. The junior forward tallied her fifth goal of the season with help from Lisa Bruno and Jincy Dunne. However, Minnesota State soon restored its two goal edge. A little over a minute later Coleman struck again.
The Bucks hammered the Maverick net in the third period. OSU outshot MSU 15-4 in the stanza. Tatum Skaggs came super close to narrowing the gap. The Scarlet and Gray’s top goal scorer rang a shot off the iron. The near miss went right back up the ice and into the Buckeye net thanks to the Mavs' Rebekah Kolstad.
This was just not Ohio State’s night. Minnesota State goalie Chloe Crosby and the Maverick defense thwarted the Bucks at every turn. OSU outshot MSU 36-20 in the game, including an enormous 15-4 margin in the third period. The Mavs blocked another 25 Buckeye shots. A full 75% of the shot attempts in this game came from Ohio State sticks.
Although the Bucks registered plenty of shots, head coach Nadine Muzerall wasn't pleased with her team's shot quality. "We have to improve our selection. We worked hard to get those scoring opportunities but we took some bad shots that negated that hard work. Zeglen made some important saves and kept us in it despite not seeing the ice since we played MSU in Columbus back in November.”
Zeglen made 16 saves in the loss. It was her third career start and only her first career loss. She is now 2-1-0, all against Minnesota State.
Tonight’s defeat is certainly a wart on the season. But, much like the Buckeye men’s loss to Michigan State, this slip up shouldn’t do irreparable harm to the women’s postseason outlook. Ohio State should bounce back okay with better results perhaps as soon as tomorrow afternoon's 3pm ET series finale.
- Check out the game's boxscore here.
- Liz Schepers led the Buckeyes with seven shots on goal.
- The Bucks blocked three shots in the contest. Rebecca Freiburger, Dani Sadek, and Grace Zarzecki had one each.
- Ohio State falls to 19-8-4 overall and 12-5-4-3 in the WCHA.
- Other WCHA results: St. Cloud State shuts out Bemidji State. Wisconsin blanked Duluth and clinched the regular season conference crown. Minnesota is off this week.
- Updated WCHA standings: Wisconsin 56 points, Ohio State 43, Minnesota 42, Minnesota Duluth 28, Bemidji State 27, St. Cloud State 20, Minnesota State 9.
