No. 9 Buckeyes Fall to Bemidji State

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COLUMBUS, Ohio — The No. 9 Ohio State University women’s ice hockey team (17-12-0, 11-10-0 WCHA) dropped its series opener against the Bemidji State University Beavers (11-16-2, 9-9-2 WCHA) 3-2 on Friday night at the OSU Ice Rink.

Coach Muzerall on the Game

“We had the majority of offensive zone time, and you get 46 shots on net and lose 3-2, last week you get 46 shots on net and win 5-0. It’s hard to tell your team they weren’t deserving of a win.”

“We could have been a little more creative in front of the net when we had those pointblank shots, not feel as rushed in that moments. But we had a lot of quality shots. It wasn’t a lack of effort.”

The Nitty Gritty

• Everything was coming up Buckeyes in the first as Madison Field scored her 13^th goal of the season to put the Bucks up 1-0 at the 8:16 mark of the first. The goal is the 99^th point in Field’s career, tying her for 10^th place all-time at Ohio State.
• Fellow senior Lauren Boyle added to the lead late in the first as she netted her second goal of the season to send OSU into the break with a 2-0 lead.
• Bemidji State came out on fire in the second with Abby Halluska cutting the OSU lead in half, 2-1, with a goal at the 3:32 point of the period.
• Less than five minutes passed before Lydia Passolt scored for BSU to even the game up at 2-2.
• With both teams looking to take the lead in the third it was the Beavers that earned the advantage thanks to an Emily Bergland goal that put them up 3-2.
• The Buckeyes fired away at the Bemidji net in the third, notching 22 shots-on-goal in the period, but could not find the equalizer as Bemidji State took the series opener 3-2. The Buckeyes outshot the Beavers 46-to-28 for the game.
• Paetyn Levis, Sophie Jaques and Emma Maltais all tallied assists for the Buckeyes.

First Period

The Buckeyes struck first when Field scored in the opening moments of the game to tally the 99^th point of her career, tying her with Emma Laaksonen for 10^th place in program history. It is the 56^th goal of her career, good for sixth place all-time at OSU. Boyle’s goal near the end of the period pushed the Buckeye lead to 2-0 before the break. The goal is the 64^th point of Boyle’s career, moving her to ninth place on the all-time Buckeye defenseman scoring list. Ohio State outshot BSU 13-to-5 in the opening period.

Second Period

Bemidji State wasted little time in cutting down the OSU lead with Halluska’s goal. Passolt evened things up for the Beavers near the midpoint of the period as BSU outshot the Bucks, 14-to-11, and went into the locker room with a 2-2 tie.

Third Period

Bergland’s goal early in the third put the Beavers up 3-2, but the Buckeyes continued to fire shot after shot at the BSU net, with one shot from Field looking like it was destined to tie things up, but as it clanged off the pipe the chances of the Buckeyes tying it bounced away too as OSU fell 3-2.

What’s Next?

The Buckeyes look to rebound tomorrow against the Beavers. Saturday’s game is senior day where we’ll honor the class of 2019. The festivities are set to get underway at 2:30 p.m. ahead of the 3:07 p.m. puck drop at the OSU Ice Rink.