Ohio State women’s hockey team huddles up before their game against Wisconsin Nov. 28. The Buckeyes lost 5-0. Photo Credit: Mackenzie Shanklin | Photo Editor
After last week’s series split against No. 3 Minnesota, Ohio State followed the trend with another split against No. 1 Wisconsin.
The Buckeyes defeated the Badgers 3-2 on Friday scoring all three of their goals in the first period.
Saturday, the Badgers started and ended strong, putting up five goals against the Buckeyes and letting in none for a final score of 5-0 Wisconsin.
Game 1
Ohio State had a strong first period Friday that kept them afloat in its win over Wisconsin.
This was Wisconsin’s first season game compared to the Buckeyes third game.
Ohio State head coach Nadine Muzerall said she was impressed with her defense in the opening period.
“I think our forecheck is relentless. We executed that brilliantly tonight, incorporating our defense. Offensively, as you know, they scored the first two goals for us and it’s about them being intelligent on when to jump and we took advantage of that.” Muzerall said Friday.
The Buckeyes came out strong Friday scoring a goal seven minutes into the first period, produced by junior defenseman Sophie Jaques to give Ohio State the early lead.
Six minutes later, the Buckeyes continued to build on their momentum when junior defenseman Madison Bizal finished another for the Buckeyes putting them ahead 2-0.
Wisconsin replied quickly with a score just 23 seconds after the Buckeyes’ second goal, cutting the Ohio State lead in half.
With just 39 seconds remaining in the first period, Ohio State scored again, increasing their lead to 3-1.
At the start of the second period, the Badgers took control of the puck immediately and scored off a pass-through breakaway, 14 seconds in.
“Now we know what we look like, things that we have to work on. We’ll come back tomorrow and try to play a better game than we did today,” Wisconsin head coach Mark Johnson said.
Game 2
Wisconsin capitalized on a quick start in order to split the series.
Two minutes into the first period the Badgers scored putting them in the lead quickly, 1-0. They would follow it up just five minutes later with another goal to extend the lead to 2-0.
Despite the early onslaught from the Badgers, the Buckeye defense buckled down against a five-minute Badger powerplay.
“The first period we came out really flat which was disappointing seeing how we were so dominant last night,” Muzerall said.
The defense continued to lock down in the second period, not allowing a Badger goal. However, the offense struggled to find production, keeping the Buckeyes down by two goals heading into the game’s final period.
In the third period, the Badgers got back to their offensive ways adding a goal three minutes into the period, increasing the score to 3-0.
With four minutes remaining in the game Ohio State made a decision to increase offensive pressure by pulling its goalie. This ended poorly for the Buckeyes as the Badgers stole the puck and scored on an empty net, making the score 4-0.
The Badgers scored their final goal with 41 seconds left in the third period ending the game with a final score of 5-0.
Similar to the Buckeyes other loss against Minnesota, offensive production seemed to be the problem Saturday.
“What hurt us today was not being able to score” Muzerall said, “Our team is generating a lot of offense, playing very well defensively we just gotta find a way to put the puck in the back of the net.”
