With just 34 seconds left in regulation and an extra attacker on the ice, North Dakota’s Jessica Kovacevich took a pass up the boards and fired it from just inside the blueline towards the net. Just 37 seconds into overtime, Liz Funk scored her third goal of the night by putting in the rebound off freshman Cara Wooster’s shot.
Just like that, UND (2-5-0, 2-5-0 WCHA) completed the comeback and defeated Ohio State (4-3-0) by a 5-4 score in overtime.
Funk, who had her first career hat trick, scored all three of her goals off of rebounds in front of the net.
“That’s what we were told,” Funk said. “Get in front of the net, get
those garbage goals. They may just be a little rebound shot, but hey, it’s
on the scoreboard.”
Three times, in fact.
“I’m still kinda shaking from it,” said Funk, who also assisted on Cara Wooster’s first goal of the season to open the scoring. “It feels nice, especially to get the game winner too.”
Funk earned the glory with the hat trick in the end, but she couldn’t have done it without Kovacevich, who finished with the game-tying goal and two assists. Both assists came from shots on which Funk buried the rebounds.
“I thought Jess played the game of her career,” said UND coach Shantel Rivard. “We needed players like her to step up and she did.”
Kovacevich erased the 4-3 Buckeye lead provided by junior forward Crystal Saytherm, who put in her own rebound at 6:42 of the third period. Although Ohio State led in the final minute of regulation, North Dakota controlled the majority of the game. The Sioux held leads of 1-0, 2-1 and 3-2 but the Buckeyes came back every time. UND outshot the Buckeyes 33-20, including 8-3 in the first period.
“Finally we outshot our opponent in the first,” Rivard said. “We wanted to jump out of the chute.”
The power plays were a big part of that shot advantage, as UND had 11 and OSU had just eight. All the power play goals were scored in the second period, as Funk found the net twice for the Sioux and Jeni Creary scored her team-leading seventh goal for the Buckeyes.
“Tonight it was an issue,” Ohio State coach Jackie Barto said of the penalties. “I thought we got out worked for 60 minutes. Credit UND for that.”
The teams meet again tomorrow night at 7:05 CST at the Ralph Engelstad
Arena.
