Ohio State women’s ice hockey’s losing streak at 5 after weekend sweep

Michelle McDonnell
Sun, 14 Feb 2016 01:27:35 +0000
Ice Hockey, Sports, Alex Lamere, Buckeyes, Cara Zubko, Claudia Kepler, Lauren Boyle, ohio state, osu

OSU freshman forward Maddy Field (22) fights for the puck during a game against Minnesota State on Oct. 23 at the Schottenstein Center. OSU won 5-3.
Credit: Courtesy of OSU

In its final away series of the regular season, the Ohio State women’s ice hockey team (9-22-1, 5-20-1) was swept by Bemidji State University (20-9-3, 15-9-2).

Both games were closely contested despite Bemidji State’s strong advantage in number of shots. The Buckeyes fell to the Beavers 3-1 on Friday and 6-2 the next day.

The Buckeyes jumped out to a one-goal lead in the first period on Friday night off of a goal from freshman defenseman Lauren Boyle, giving the Scarlet and Gray the needed early momentum to pull off an upset on the road.

However, Bemidji State was able to tie it up off a goal from Alexis Joyce in the second. The Beavers led in shots 17-6 in the second period.

The home team then scored the go-ahead goal 6:53 into the third period for the Beavers’ first lead of the game. OSU sophomore goalie Alex LaMere let one more goal past her off of a shot from Hanna Moher to give the Beavers the 3-1 win.

Despite taking the loss in the Friday night game, LaMere was able to stop 42 of 45 shots, which was a career high for her.

On Saturday, the Beavers were the team with the quick start as they took a one-goal lead within the first three minutes of the game. They followed that up with another goal two minutes later. Joyce and Kaitlyn Tougas scored the goals for Bemidji State.

Cara Zubko got OSU on the board with less than four minutes left in the first period to prevent the game from getting ugly early. The senior defenseman was assisted by freshman forward Maddy Field and junior forward Claudia Kepler.

However, the ugliness eventually arrived. The Beavers added four straight goals in the second and third periods to bring the score up to a 6-1 advantage. Field scored for the Buckeyes with less than two minutes remaining, but Bemidji State easily took home the win with a four-goal advantage.

Despite a larger final goal deficit on Saturday, the Buckeyes held with the Beavers in terms of shots. The Beavers only had a 34-32 advantage on the night.

Bemidji State goes into its final series of the regular season sitting in third in the Western Collegiate Hockey Association standings, while the Buckeyes sit second from last in seventh place.

The Buckeyes will be looking to break their five-game losing streak next weekend in the final series of the regular season against No. 9 North Dakota. The two teams squared off in mid-November, when the Buckeyes and Fighting Hawks split the series.

The puck is scheduled to drop at the OSU Ice Rink at 7:07 p.m. on Friday and 4:07 p.m. on Saturday, with the latter game representing the team’s senior day.