The Ohio State women’s hockey team came into the season as the No. 2 team in the country after losing in the national championship to No. 1 Wisconsin. In their first game, the Buckeyes fell to Colgate 3-2. Since then, they have won 11 straight games, with the most recent two coming against the Badgers in Columbus.
On Friday, Ohio State shut out Wisconsin behind 19 saves by goalkeeper Raygan Kirk and two goals from Jennifer Gardiner in the second period. The Buckeyes were more aggressive shooting the puck, taking 30 shots to Wisconsin’s 19, which worked out for them, beating the Badgers 3-0.
Kiara Zanon started the scoring for the Buckeyes 13:17 into the first period, assisted by Jenna Buglioni and Hadley Hartmetz. It was Zanon’s 7th goal of the season, and her 13th point which is tied for third on the team.
Gardiner’s two goals brought her up to six on the season, and both came within two minutes of each other in the beginning of the second period on the power play. She was assisted by Hartmetz and Hannah Bilka on the first, and Jocelyn Amos and Riley Brengman on the second.
Gardiner found the net again in the game on Saturday, this time with the Badgers at full-strength. Stephanie Markowski and Cayla Barnes were credited with an assist.
After managing only four shots in the first period, the Badgers answered in the second on a goal from Cassie Hall, the only other goal that was scored by either team for the remainder of regulation.
Hannah Bilka ended the game just 1:17 into overtime, getting help from Gardiner and Hartmetz on the assist, and completing the weekend sweep of the No. 1 overall team.
Ohio State improved to 10-0 in the WCHA, and 11-1 overall with the wins, now with sole possession of first place in the conference.
It was two strong performances from the Buckeyes that just adds on to an already incredible run they have been on. 11 games in a row tops their best winning streak they had last season, which was 10 games long. They will look to keep the winning streak going against No. 6 St. Lawrence in games on Nov. 24 and 25.
Engel and Santos Race In NCAA Championships
While the women’s cross country team didn’t qualify for the NCAA Championship race, Addie Engel (2nd) and Daniella Santos (7th) both placed high enough in the Great Lakes Regional Championship to compete individually.
Engel finished 61st in the final race of the season with a time of 20:20.7 at the Charlottesville, Va. 6k course, and Santos finished 67th with a time of 20:27.7 out of 254 runners.
Head coach Sara Mason Vergote said Engel was in All-American position for most of the race, but fell late in the race, losing a lot of ground from where she was. After with just 1,000 of the 6,000 meters to go, Engel was in 33rd place, so her fall dropped her nearly 30 places from where she was pacing.
“It wasn’t the day we wanted, but Addie and (Santos) gave everything they had. When we do that, I can’t be upset with the outcome. This season has taught us a lot about resiliency.” Mason Vergote said after the race.
Both Engel and Santos are returning to Ohio State next year for another season of cross country.
