Junior defender Emma Peschel juggles the puck in the defensive zone as Ohio State’s women’s hockey falls 3-4 to Minnesota Duluth Sunday. Credit: Liam Ahern
For the first time since its 1999-2000 inaugural campaign, Ohio State’s women’s ice hockey team has dropped the first two games of its season.
A pair of goals by freshman forward Caitlin Kraemer led the University of Minnesota Duluth (2-0) to its second straight victory against the Buckeyes (0-2), leading the Bulldogs’ team with three points in the game.
Ohio State head coach Nadine Muzerall said Sunday her team made a lot of errors that have to be cleaned up, and noted that her players need to perform better as a unified front.
“I actually thought after [Saturday’s] game, having the 40 shots to 12, that our team would have separated ourselves from them a little bit more today,” Muzerall said. “But you know, you [have to] give Duluth credit, they came out to battle and to try to take the sweep, which they did.”
It didn’t start bad for Ohio State, though. Buckeyes sophomore forward Jocelyn Amos kicked off the game with a goal at just over six minutes into the first period.
Muzerall gave Ohio State transfer junior goaltender Hailey MacLeod credit for contributing to Amos’ goal with her fast skating to the bench, in turn allowing Amos to quickly enter the ice.
“[MacLeod] made some big saves at big moments when we needed her to and I think her skating is probably one of the best I’ve seen in a goaltender ever,” Muzerall said. “That [speed] actually helped us get a goal, because how fast she came off the ice when there was a penalty for them, we were able to get Amos on the ice quicker, and she scored from it.”
MacLeod got the nod in today’s matchup against her former team, after fifth-year Amanda Thiele’s start in the net Saturday. MacLeod spent the past two seasons at Minnesota Duluth, where she earned a record of 16 wins, five losses and three ties.
“I thought [MacLeod] did pretty well, considering playing her old team is probably a lot of emotions,” Muzerall said. “It’s different when you transfer as a player versus a goalie because it’s just on you if you make an error.”
In MacLeod’s first game wearing scarlet and gray, she saved 26 of 30 shots;meanwhile, the Buckeyes took 39 shots on Minnesota Duluth’s sophomore goaltender Ève Gascon, who saved 36 pucks.
After Amos’ goal, however, the Bulldogs came back strong with two.
Minnesota Duluth captain graduate forward Clara Van Wieren gave her team its first goal at 14 minutes into the first period, receiving assists from Kraemer and senior Olivia Wallin.
The Bulldogs’ second goal of the night came from senior forward Jenna Lawry, who netted a shot on the power play with two minutes left in the second period, giving Minnesota Duluth its first lead of the game.
The matchup proved to be gritty, with four penalties awarded to each team. Out of the eight penalties, only one was converted into a goal by Minnesota Duluth’s Lawry at the start of the second period.
“I haven’t seen the film, but one thing we don’t want is getting penalties in key moments where we’re in the offensive zone and creating opportunities and we get a penalty,” Muzerall said. “Or [when] we get a penalty just after a goal, or some kind of momentum swing, we have to be smart about the timing.”
Junior defender Emma Peschel and fifth-year forward Kiara Zanon gave the Buckeyes the lead at the end of the second period with back-to-back goals. They quickly changed their team’s momentum from trailing 2-1 to leading 3-2 in a matter of seconds.
Peschel’s goal came at 18:44, with assists from sophomore forward Joy Dunne and fifth-year defender Riley Brengman.
Zanon’s follow-up goal went in at 18:55, with assists from Peschel and junior defender Sara Swiderski.
The third period belonged to the Bulldogs and Kraemer.
Kraemer notched her first goal at 4:35 to get the tie at three. Then, just under 10 minutes later, Kraemer scored the go-ahead goal to give her team the win.
Muzerall said everyone in the program needs to be held accountable and get better from losses like these.
“They have to stick to the game plan, and our staff too, we have to own this and just make sure that it doesn’t happen again, Muzerall said.”
The Buckeyes will head to Minnesota this weekend to play two games against Bemidji State. Puck drop will be at 7 p.m. Friday and 4 p.m. Saturday.
