Corinne Rosen scored a pair of third-period goals, including an empty-net goal, to cap Ohio State’s stunning 4-0 victory over Minnesota to catapult the Buckeyes into Saturday’s WCHA Women’s Championship finale against second-ranked Minnesota-Duluth.
Ohio State goalie April Stojak needed to stop just 11 shots through two periods as her team took a 2-0 lead on goals by Katie Frohreich, at 15:58 of the first period, and Jeanne Chapple, at 4:57 of the second period. However, she was kept busy in the final 20 minutes as the Gophers put 17 shots on goal.
With the score 2-0 and Minnesota threatening to cut the lead in half, Rosen picked up a loose puck in the neutral zone, skated in on Gopher goalie Erica Killewald and converted her own rebound for a 3-0 lead at 12:22 of the final period. She put the game away with an empty-net goal after taking a pass from Shana Frost before breaking into the Minnesota zone all alone for a tap-in goal.
Minnesota held a 28-18 advantage in shots on goal with Stojak, who also recorded a shutout in a 5-0 win over St. Cloud State on Thursday, stopping all 28 shots she faced. Killewald stopped 14 of 17 shots.
Ohio State will face UMD in the tournament championship game at 7 p.m. Saturday while Minnesota faces Wisconsin in the third-place game at 4 p.m.
