Columbus, Ohio – Junior forward Maddy Field scored two goals and linemate Liz Schepers, a freshman from Mound, had a goal and an assist to lead No. 7 Ohio State to a 5-1 victory over the No. 5 Gophers on Saturday in WCHA women's hockey.
The Buckeyes also won 3-2 on Friday, so this victory gave them a series sweep and also enabled them to move into second place in the conference race, supplanting the Gophers. Ohio State won the regular-season series 3-0-1 — the reverse of last season's results.
"Not the results we wanted this weekend," Gophers coach Brad Frost said, "certainly knowing it was a big series and hoping to get some points out of it and we didn't.
"Credit Ohio State for playing very well and they did what they needed to do to win."
The Buckeyes (16-5-4, 9-2-4-3 WCHA) led 2-0 after the first period and 4-0 after the second. Defenseman Sydney Baldwin scored for Minnesota (17-7-2, 10-5-2) midway through the third.
Kassidy Sauve had 23 saves for Ohio State. The Gophers used two goalies in the four-goal loss — their worst of the season. Alex Gulstene started and had 13 saves before being pulled after Ohio State's fourth goal, by Rebecca Freiburger, a sophomore forward from Rochester, at 9:47 of the second. Sidney Peters replaced Gulstene and stopped eight shots.
Both teams were 0-for-2 on the power play.
Limiting penalties was something Buckeyes coach Nadine Muzerall, a former Gophers player and coach, stressed before the series.
"We got to stay out of the box," she said. " We are a very effective team 5-vs.-5."
