Buckeyes Start WCHA Play at No. 1 Wisconsin – Ohio State Buckeyes
10/6/2016 12:00:00 AM | Women's Ice Hockey
Oct. 6, 2016
Columbus, Ohio— After starting the season 2-0 last weekend at RPI, Ohio State opens up WCHA play with a road trip to No. 1 Wisconsin this weekend. Game one is slated to start at 8:07 ET on Friday and game two will begin at 2:07 ET on Saturday.
Live stats can be found here, and updates will also be posted on our Twitter page (@OhioState_WHKY)
Last Time Out
For the first time in program history, Ohio State took on the RPI Engineers and came away with two impressive victories.
In Friday’s 4-1 win, goals came from Samantha Bouley, Erin Langermeier, Jincy Dunne, and Katie Matheny. The three underclassmen all scored in the first period, with Bouley and Langermeier both scoring in the first two minutes of the game to give OSU the commanding lead. Matheny added her first goal of the season in the third period to put her team up 4-0. RPI added its lone goal of the weekend on a 6-on-4 power play in the waning moments to make the final score 4-1.
Saturday it was Maddy Field’s two goals that made the offensive difference and Kassidy Sauve’s goaltending the made the defensive difference in the 2-0 win. Field’s scores came just 75 seconds apart in game time- 19:25 of the first period and :40 of the second period- putting Ohio State up 2-0. After that it was Sauve making save after save, 33 in all, to post her first shutout of the season.
All told it was as good of a start as one could hope for the Buckeyes. Strong offensive play combined with two excellent performances between the pipes- and not to mention a great penalty kill all weekend- all had a hand in the two wins Ohio State earned.
Good First Impressions
10 new players and a new coaching staff made a spectacular debut last weekend against Rensselaer, winning 4-1 and 2-0. Eight of Ohio State’s 15 points were registered by players who did not play last year, including three by Bouley. The freshman scored once and assisted on goals twice, most notably scoring the first goal of the Buckeyes’ season.
A list of new additions to the roster this season: Jacyn Reeves (Union), Ariana DePinto (Yale), and Liv Halvorson (Providence) join the Scarlet and Gray after spending last year with different teams. Bouley, Elise Riemenschneider, Rebecca Freiburger, Olivia Soares, Katie Mikkelsen, Crystal Sorem, and Kaylee Remington are the new freshmen for Ohio State
Welcome Back
A pair of Buckeyes made returns to the ice after not playing last season. Kassidy Sauve and Jincy Dunne both redshirted during the 2015-16 season and both had significant impacts on both games.
Playing on the top defensive pairing, Dunne scored her first collegiate goal in her first collegiate period of hockey and also added an assist the following night. Sauve, who had not played since the end of the 2014-15 season, started both games and played well enough to earn WCHA Defensive Player of the Week honors. She stopped 67 shots and just allowed the one goal, earning a .985 goals against average for the weekend.
Buckeye Bits
- With the wins over RPI Ohio State extended its season-opening weekend unbeaten streak to 17 games, earning a 14-0-3 record over that time.
- OSU joins another WCHA team, Bemidji State, atop the leaderboard in goals allowed so far. Each team has allowed just one score.
- Bouley is one of four freshmen across the country to have at least three points through her first two career games this season.
- Maddy Field now has six points in season-opening series in her young career.
- The opening stretch of this season’s schedule mirrors last year: at the start of 2015-16 Ohio State began its season with a two-game sweep of a non-conference opponent on the road before traveling to Madison to face Wisconsin.
About the Badgers
The preseason pick to win the WCHA, Wisconsin owns a record of 2-0 on the season so far, having swept St. Cloud State last weekend by scores of 6-0 and 4-2. Last year they played to a 35-4-1 record, reaching the national championship game before falling to Minnesota. The Badgers were (and still are) led by Ann-Renee Desbiens, their senior goaltender. The La Malbaei, Quebec native was a preseason pick for WCHA Player of the Year and a top-three finalists for the 2016 Patty Kazmaier Memorial Award.
So far this season Wisconsin is one of two teams to have scored double-digit goals. Its eight goal scoring differential is the best in the country on the young season.
