No. 2 Buckeyes Start the New Year with 5-1 Win Over No. 4 Penn State

Friday, January 2

Columbus, Ohio

6 p.m.

Ohio State

16-3-0

Penn State

18-2-0

Penn St.

Ohio St.

No. 2 Buckeyes Start the New Year with 5-1 Win Over No. 4 Penn State

1/2/2026 9:28:00 PM | Women's Ice Hockey

Box Score Photo Gallery

COLUMBUS, Ohio – The No. 2 Ohio State women's hockey team opened the new year with a 5-1 win over fourth-ranked Penn State Friday night at the OSU Ice Rink. The Buckeyes improve to 16-3-0 on the year with the top five victory and hand the Nittany Lions (18-2-0) their second loss of the season.

Short Story
Ohio State took the lead four minutes into the game off a goal from Sloane Matthews, who finished the day with a team-high three points. The team's second period scoring trend continued with four goals in the middle frame, highlighted by a goal in the first 16 seconds from Joy Dunne, a pair of goals for Maxine Cimoroni and a shorthanded goal by Hilda Svensson.

Buckeye netminder Hailey MacLeod made her 12th start of the season and finished the game with 23 saves for the win.

Ohio State went on to outshoot Penn State, 45-24, and dominate the faceoff with a .638 win percentage.

How it Happened

In its first game in 27 days, Ohio State set the tone early, taking 17 shots in the opening frame. Matthews gave Ohio State the 1-0 lead at 4:00, skating the puck in towards Penn State goaltender Katie DeSa and sneaking it past to light the lamp for the first goal of 2026.
MacLeod made five saves in the opening frame to keep the 1-0 lead for the Buckeyes after one period.
Dunne tallied her team-leading 18th goal of the season and fifth game-winning goal just 16 seconds into the second stanza of a back-handed shot on DeSa.
Three minutes later, Cimoroni found herself with a one-on-none opportunity skating into the Penn State zone. She juked out the Nittany Lion netminder and knocked the puck into the net at 3:16.
Penn State had two power play opportunities in the second period, with Ohio State killing off the first and scoring shorthanded on the second. The Buckeyes held the Nittany Lions without a shot on the first player advantage situation which started in the sixth minute of the period. Penn State was a award its second power play at 9:45 in the period and Svensson scored for the Buckeyes at 10:41.
The Nittany Lions eventually capitalized on the power play at 11:04 in the second period for their only goal of the game.
As the clock was approaching five minutes remaining in the middle frame, Hailey MacLeod made a save that Maria Roth knocked out to Kaia Malachino. Malachino skated it down the ice before passing it off to Cimoroni, who sent a shot from the top of the faceoff circle past the blocker of DeSa for the Buckeye's fifth and final goal of the game at 5:16.
Neither team scored in the third period with MacLeod making 10 stops to hold of the Nittany Lions. Penn State's Madison Campbell played the final frame, stopping 12 shots.

Game Notes

Malachino played her first minutes as a Buckeye in Friday's game. She tallied an assist in her debut.
Cimoroni recorded her first career multi-goal game with a team-high two goals against the Nittany Lions. The freshman forward now has six goals on the year.
Svensson added another first for her Buckeye career, tallying the team's first shorthanded goal of the season. She continues to lead the team with 35 points this season and 22 assists with a helper on Dunne's goal.

Statistically Speaking
Shots on Goal: Ohio State 45, Penn State 24
Saves: Penn State (DeSa, Campbell) 40, Ohio State (MacLeod) 23
Power Play: Penn State 1-3, Ohio State 0-2
Faceoffs: Ohio State 37, Penn State 21
Ohio State Scoring: Matthews (1-2-3), Cimoroni (2-0-2), Svensson (1-1-2), Dunne (1-0-1), Disher (0-1-1), Jungåker (0-1-1), Malachino (0-1-1), Roth (0-1-1), Swiderski (0-1-1)

Up Next
Ohio State and Penn State face off for game two of the non-conference series Saturday, Jan. 3 at 3:30 p.m. The game will be streamed on B1G+ (subscription required) and locally on ESYX-DT2 6.2 The Nest and televised on FOX9+ in Minnesota, Chicago and Phoenix.

#GoBucks