No. 6 Ohio State Takes Down No. 3 Cornell, 3-1

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COLUMBUS, Ohio – The Ohio State women’s ice hockey team defeated Cornell 3-1 Friday evening to hand the Big Red their first loss of the season. Junior forward Emma Maltais tallied two second period goals while sophomore Madison Bizal added a third. With the win, Ohio State improves to 10-3-4 (6-3-3 WCHA) while Cornell slips to 8-1-1 (5-0-1 ECAC).

“We’ve been talking about 60 minutes of hockey and I think today we really played 60 minutes of hockey,” head coach Nadine Muzerall said. “We knew we needed to in order to beat a team like Cornell. It was a great back and fourth game, I give Cornell and lot of credit too.”

Buckeye Bits

• Junior Emma Maltais scored two goals in the contest to bring her season total to 13.
• Sophomore Madison Bizal scored her third goal of the season and third career goal while tallying a team-high five blocked shots on defense.
• Junior Liz Schepers assisted all three Ohio State goals on the night while Tatum Skaggs tallied two assists.
• Junior defender Lisa Bruno also notched an assist for her fourth point of the season.
• The Buckeyes blocked 24 shots on the night led by Bizal (5) and Rebecca Freiburger (4).
• Andrea Braendli earned the win in net for the Buckeyes, bringing her season record to 7-3-4. She compiled 22 saves in the contest.

Ohio State 3, Cornell 1

First Period

Ohio State took a quick lead in shots against Cornell as Buckeye goaltender Andrea Braendli wasn’t tested with a shot on frame until the sixth minute. At the end of the period, Ohio State led 9-4 in shots and 12-10 in blocked shots. Teghan Inglis led the Scarlet and Gray defense with three blocked shots. Each team exchanged two penalties each as Ramsey Parent and Rebecca Freiburger were sent off for tripping and checking, respectively but neither team could convert on the man advantage.

Second Period

Cornell broke the stalemate in the sixth minute of the second period as Kristin O’Neill pushed one past Braendli for her sixth goal of the season. It didn’t take long for the Buckeye’s leading scorer to equalize as Emma Maltais tallied her first goal of the game off a deflection from junior Lisa Bruno’s shot. The score held at 1-all until Liz Schepers fed Maltais a breakout pass who fired off a long-range shot past Browning’s glove. Maltais’ second goal of the night came with just 28 seconds left in the period and was her 13th of the season. Ohio State outshot Cornell 10-9 in the second and led 19-13 after two.

Third Period

The Big Red felt the pressure in the final frame and outshot the Buckeyes 10-7. With Ohio State holding the 2-1 lead as time ticked town, Browning skated to the bench to give Cornell one last push. Gabby Rosenthal and Freiburger each took turns blocking shots and added to Ohio State’s 24 blocked shots on the night. The Big Red could not equalize as Ohio State took the first game, 3-1 and sent Cornell back to the locker room with its first loss of the season.