Last night No. 9 Ohio State shelled the net but struggled to solve Beaver goalie Lauren Bench. Following the game, Nadine Muzerall remained positive about her team’s effort, saying the same game on another night would have brought a victory. Looks like the Buckeye coach was right.
| Scoring by Period | 1 | 2 | 3 | Final |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bemidji State | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| No. 9 Ohio State | 2 | 0 | 3 | 5 |
On Saturday afternoon the Bucks squared off with Bemidji State once again. They opened up another barrage on Bench. This time they struck five times and chased the BSU netminder from the game.
"Actually we had ten more shots attempted today compared to yesterday with a total of 70," said Muzerall. "They were bound to get through and on net. We were just plugging away."
Rebecca Freiburger fired home the first Buckeye goal less than a minute into the game. Charly Dahlquist followed with her eleventh tally of the season. It would turn out to be the game winner.
| Buckeye Goal Scorers (Assists) | Pd | Time |
|---|---|---|
| Rebecca Freiburger (Liz Schepers, Jincy Dunne) | 1 | 0:50 |
| Charly Dahlquist (Emma Maltais, Lauren Boyle) | 1 | 6:13 |
| Charly Dahlquist (Sophie Jaques) | 3 | 0:48 |
| PS - Emma Maltais | 3 | 13:07 |
| PP - Sophie Jaques (Madison Bizal, Lauren Boyle) | 3 | 16:39 |
Bemidji cut Ohio State’s lead to 2-1 late in the first period. That margin held through a scoreless second period. Then Bucks seized absolute control of the game in the final frame.
Dahlquist crushed her second goal of the game less than a minute in. Top sniper Emma Maltais converted a penalty shot. Freshman Sophie Jaques polished off the Beavers with a power play strike to seal a 5-1 OSU victory.
"I’m just really glad that we won a must-win game," Muzerall admitted. "We’ve lost quite a few games this year when we completely outplayed our opponent. Coming in, I didn’t question if we would have the effort and control the game, but you never know how the outcome’s going to end. It was very nice to see us take the W."
Buckeye goalie Amanda Zeglen made 18 saves to collect her fourth win of the season. Today’s start marked her sixth appearance in net this year. She owns a 4-1-0 record along with a 2.70 GAA and .890 save percentage.
Today’s victory brings Ohio State’s overall record to 18-12-0. The Bucks are 12-10-0-0 in the WCHA. They have a bye next week before heading out to finish the regular season at No. 2 Wisconsin on February 22-23.
"We’re just going to take the time of rest and recovery," said Muzerall. "We always think hockey, hockey, hockey but they’re student athletes too and they’re busy and they’re stressed out and it’s midterms. We want to make sure they’re recovered and fully energized by the time we take off to Madison."
