UMD Women Sweep OHIO State, Face Wisconsin

The UMD Women’s hockey team swept Ohio State in the best of 3 first round WCHA playoff series at Amsoil Arena this weekend.  They face Wisconsin at 4:30 pm Friday at Amsoil Arena, and likely need to beat Wisconsin, then Minnesota or North Dakota  who play each other at 7:30 in the second game of the WCHA Final Face-Off doubleheader, to make the NCAA tournament.  Go DOGS!

Photos from the UMD series with Ohio State will go up early in the week, as I have 9 hockey games worth of photos from the last 5 days to get through.

UMD Women Split with Ohio State

With the two teams tied in the 4th spot in the WCHA standings, the Bulldogs won Friday night, and Buckeyes won Saturday night, leaving the WCHA first round still cloudy.  UMD finishes the season with Bemidji and Mankato, while Ohio State finishes the season with Minnesota, then Wisconsin.  That remaining schedule favors UMD, and would likely mean UMD and Ohio State battle in a best of 3 series at Amsoil Arena February 24/25 and 26th if necessary. 

UMD Womens’ Hockey Beats Ohio State

 

The Bulldogs came out flying on Friday, February 2nd vs Ohio State, scoring 4 first period goals. Audrey Cournoyer (assists to Haley Irwin and Jessica Wong) scored first for the 'Dogs, just 39 seconds into the game, finding herself alone in front of the OSU net with the puck on a rebound for the easy tap-in. Jenna McParland (from Irwin and Cournoyer) gave UMD a 2-0 lead at 5:30, batting a puck down into the net. Katie Wilson (from Ambroz and Zoe Hickel) made it 3-0 90 seconds later. A Haley Irwin goal at 11:31 of the period gave UMD it's 4-0 lead.

The 4-0 lead stood until 14:24 of the second period, when OSU's Ally Tarr scored. The Buckeyes cut the lead to 4-2 with just 43 seconds left in the game, with the empty net and powerplay on a goal by Kelly Wild following a scrum in front of Jenny Harss' net. Harss stopped 23 of 25 shots she faced for the win, while OSU starter Lisa Steffes stopped 4 of 7 shots, in just 7 minutes of action. Steffes was replaced by Chelsea Knapp after the third goal, and Knapp stopped 25 of 26 shots she faced.