The women’s hockey Buckeyes took care of business on Saturday with a 3-0 win over Minnesota State. The Game 2 victory secured a series sweep for Ohio State and ousted the Mavericks from the WCHA tournament. The Bucks are on to the semifinals.
| Scoring by Period | 1 | 2 | 3 | Final |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. 6 Minnesota State | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| No. 3 Ohio State | 1 | 0 | 2 | 3 |
Charly Dahlquist got the ball rolling for the Scarlet and Gray with a first period power play goal. This would be the only goal scored for a long time as Andrea Braendli and Abigail Levy dug in for a goalie duel. Though Levy gave a game effort, this was a battle won decisively by Braendli. The Bucks’ rookie netminder finished the day with a perfect 28 saves on 28 shots.
| Buckeye Goal Scorers (Assists) | Pd | Time |
|---|---|---|
| PP - Charly Dahlquist (Jacyn Reeves, Jincy Dunne) | 1 | 2:04 |
| Jacyn Reeves (Liz Schepers, Lauren Boyle) | 3 | 16:30 |
| EN - Jincy Dunne (unassistsed) | 3 | 19:22 |
As time ticked down, the Buckeye offense gave its hard-working goalie some breathing room. Jacyn Reeves deposited an insurance tally at 16:30 of the third period. Jincy Dunne put a final dagger in MSU’s season with an empty netter.
Braendli was understandably enthusiastic following her sixth career shutout. "It was a really cool game," the Swiss netminder said. "I love to play with the girls and I love to play playoff hockey. It’s even more fun. It was an amazing game from all of us again. It wasn’t my win. It was the team’s win. I think it was a great team effort out there for both games."
The Buckeye coach was also upbeat following the win. “I challenged [the team] to play intelligently in the defensive zone [after yesterday’s game],” Nadine Muzerall stated. “It’s tough sometimes when you have so much momentum offensively...We needed to just be disciplined.”
The coach was pleased with the way the Buckeyes rose to that challenge. “They played 200’ of a hockey game,” approved Muzerall. “Everybody appreciated all areas of the ice tonight. Kudos to the girls and Andrea for another shutout.”
The third-seeded Bucks now advance to the WCHA semifinals. They will square off with No. 2 seed Wisconsin in a single-elimination match next Saturday at 6pm ET as part of the conference’s Final Faceoff in Minneapolis. Braendli is thrilled to have another crack at the Badgers.
"I’m even more excited to play against them again because I know that we can beat them and I know they’re not better than we are," declared Braendli. "I’m really excited to play them again and I’m really confident that we can win that game too."
Today’s victory also brings OSU’s season win total to a nice, round 20. It is the third time in program history that the Buckeyes have achieved that mark. It is the first time they have ever recorded back-to-back 20 win seasons.
- Ohio State outshot Minnesota State 38-28.
- Emma Maltais (6) and Rebecca Freiburger (5) led the Buckeye shooters.
- OSU went 1-for-2 on the power play and 2-for-2 on the penalty kill.
- Today’s victory boosts the Bucks up to No. 9 in the PairWise rankings.
- No. 4 Minnesota-Duluth takes on No. 1 Minnesota in the other WCHA semifinal.
