Buckeyes rally in third to beat Bulldogs by familiar 3-2 margin

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Top-ranked Ohio State scored a pair of goals in the third period on Saturday to remain undefeated and rally past No. 4 Minnesota Duluth for a 3-2 victory in WCHA play at the OSU Ice Rink.

In this weekend's rematch of last year’s national championship game, the defending NCAA champion Buckeyes took five of six league points from the Bulldogs by beating the Bulldogs both times by the same score of last year’s title game at Penn State. OSU won the series opener on Friday 3-2 in overtime.

“Tonight we had the lead and blew it in the third,” UMD coach Maura Crowell said. “It’s a tough one because I thought we played a heck of a lot better today overall for 50 minutes of the game. It was some of the best hockey I’ve seen us play in years against Ohio State. That was really good. There’s a lot to build off of there, but coming away with one point is disappointing.”

Senior forward Jennifer Gardiner tied the game at 2-2 with 9:13 left in regulation and junior defenseman Riley Bergman notched the game-winning goal for Ohio State with 4:57 to go.

UMD and OSU went into the first intermission tied 1-1. Senior forward Mannon McMahon bounced a puck in off a Buckeye on a wraparound 7:54 into the game to put UMD on top first before OSU fifth-year senior forward Gabby Rosenthal tied it at the 16:17 mark.

Bulldogs fifth-year senior forward Gabbie Hughes scored on a breakaway with each side down a skater, giving UMD a 2-1 lead 3:29 into the second period.

Both Hughes and McMahon had a chance to put the Bulldogs ahead by two goals in the opening half of the third period, however, Buckeyes junior goaltender Amanda Thiele turned away both chances.

Thiele finished with 23 saves for Ohio State while UMD fifth-year senior goaltender Emma Soderberg made 34 saves.

“You have a chance to win the series and come away with four points. That was our goal going into today and I thought it was attainable,” Crowell said. “I think we’re really good, and unfortunately we made some mistakes in the third that cost us. They are a team that capitalizes on those things. That’s tough.

“We had a good showing all weekend long. I think we’re going to be in the conversation of top team in the country all year long. We just have to button up some of the details. That’s the nice thing about still being in October, but as you know, our schedule doesn’t get much easier over the next couple weeks.”

UMD returns home to host Wisconsin next weekend at 3 p.m. Friday and Saturday at Amsoil Arena. After that, the Bulldogs travel to Minnesota for a rematch of last year’s NCAA regional championship at Ridder Arena.