MINNEAPOLIS — Ohio State used two goals in the span of three minutes in the second period to defeat Wisconsin and advance to their third-straight WCHA tournament title game.
This will be the first time in nine years that Wisconsin does not make an appearance in the title game.
It was a hard-fought, close game. The Badgers seemed to have the edge early on as Ohio State struggled to settle into their game. Both teams took advantage of a quick transition to catch the defense off guard and capitalize. All of the scoring happened in less than seven minutes at the start of the second.
Wisconsin got on the board first as a long pass from Chayla Edwards found Sophie Shirley cutting through the neutral zone. She took the puck with pace to the net and beat OSU goalie Amanda Thiele to go up 1-0.
Unfortunately for the Badgers, the goal seemed to be the thing that helped the Buckeyes shake off the cobwebs and find their momentum. Ohio State had a number of rushes toward the Wisconsin net that the defense was able to waylay before Liz Schepers and Paetyn Levis broke through for their first goal.
Pressure on the Badgers in the offensive zone led to a turnover and Schepers took off up ice, passing to Levis just after the half line. Levis was able to pull the defender, leaving Schepers wide open and her shot just trickled through Badger goalie Kennedy Blair to tie the game.
“When we play our game, I think we’re successful against anybody in the country,” said Schepers.
A few minutes later, the Buckeyes were fighting for the puck along the boards near the blue line. Gabby Rosenthal skated away with it and despite having four Wisconsin defenders between her and the net, took a shot that caught them all flat and deceived Blair to score the game winner.
“We found a way to get those two goals in and then controlled the lead against a talented team that can turn around and score on a whim. I’ve got to hand it to our girls. They stuck with it and were a united front and did things brilliantly defensively,” said Ohio State coach Nadine Muzerall.
Wisconsin out-shot the Buckeyes 34-18 and blocked 17 shots, but once they shook off the first period, OSU were able to stay calm and not get frustrated. The Badgers had a number of opportunities to tie the game up, but could never quite complete the play, as pucks jumped over sticks and hit the crossbar and passes failed to connect.
Despite the loss, Badger coach Mark Johnson said he didn’t find much fault with his team’s performance on Saturday.
“I thought we had a good game tonight. I wasn’t disappointed at all in our effort. The way we played—we played well enough to win, but unfortunately we didn’t, so it’s a learning opportunity for everybody… we’re trending in a good direction,” he said.
Ohio State advances to play Minnesota in the WCHA Championship game, scheduled for 1 pm central on Sunday. The winner of that game is likely to receive the top overall seed, with the losing team receiving the second seed. Both will host an NCAA first round and quarterfinal.
Wisconsin will await Sunday night’s NCAA Selection show (9 pm est, ESPNews) to find out where they will play.
