The Ohio State women’s hockey celebrates their 6-1 win Saturday over St. Lawrence to secure their spot in the NCAA Women’s Frozen Four. Credit: Ohio State Athletics
And then there were four.
The No. 2 Buckeyes are headed to the NCAA Frozen Four at Minneapolis’ Ridder Arena to face No. 3 Cornell in the national semifinals Friday at 5 p.m.
Ohio State is looking to win back-to-back national titles after defeating Wisconsin for its second NCAA title in program history on March 24, 2024.
Ohio State and Cornell last faced off Oct. 26, 2024, in the Women’s Ice Breaker Tournament championship, during which the Buckeyes dominated the Big Red in a 7-3 thrashing.
Friday’s matchup between the Buckeyes (28-7-3, 19-6-3 Women’s Collegiate Hockey Association) and Big Red (25-4-5, 16-2-4 Eastern Collegiate Athletic Conference) is only the eighth-ever meeting between the two teams. Ohio State leads the series 4-3.
The Buckeyes maintained the No. 2 seed in the NCAA Tournament, despite falling 6-2 to Minnesota in the WCHA Final Faceoff March 7.
This weekend marks the Buckeyes’ sixth Frozen Four appearance, each of which have come under the leadership of head coach Nadine Muzerall.
Muzerall is the winningest coach in the program’s history with a 223-80-22 overall record. She is also a finalist for the CCM/AHCA Coach of the Year award.
Forward Joy Dunne logged 4 points in the first round of the NCAA Tournament against St. Lawrence — the first Buckeye in program history to do so — and now holds the record for the most points in a tournament game.
Dunne also set multiple records this season, reaching 100 career points in Ohio State’s matchup against St. Lawrence. She’s the fastest player to reach this mark in program history and was also named a top-10 finalist for the 2025 Patty Kazmaier Memorial Award.
No. 1 Wisconsin and No. 4 Minnesota will face off at 7:30 p.m. Friday at Ridder Arena. The winners of the two semifinal games will advance to the NCAA National Championship game Sunday at 4 p.m.
