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Women's Icers Stun No. 1
February 18, 2012
The Ohio State women’s hockey team has been fighting to keep its head above water all season, but on Saturday afternoon the Buckeyes submerged the No. 1 team in the country.
Playing at that Kohl Center in Madison, Wisc., in the regular-season finale, Ohio State posted a stunning 4-2 win over top-ranked and homestanding Wisconsin. Junior Hokey Langan was instrumental in the victory, scoring a pairs of goals.
The female icers made their intentions known almost immediately as they scored three times in the first period. They held on for the program’s first-ever regular-season win over a No. 1 team.
OSU avoided dropping to a .500 record and improved to 16-14-4 overall. The Buckeyes own a mark of 13-14-1-1 in WCHA play. Wisconsin, who had already clinched the WCHA regular-season title, dropped to 29-3-2 and 23-3-2.
The win solidified a fifth-place finish in the WCHA standings with 41 points. The Buckeyes will travel to Minnesota-Duluth for a best-of-three series to begin the WCHA playoffs, Feb. 24-26. The first game is set for 4:07 p.m. Eastern from AMSOIL Arena.
Ohio State opened the scoring at the 8:03 mark of the first. Freshman Kari Schmitt capitalized on a Wisconsin turnover and sent a shot past Nikki Kaasa for the score. The unassisted goal was the second of the season for the defenseman.
The Buckeyes built on their lead with another even-strength goal in the first, scoring at 10:39. Senior Laura McIntosh took a shot from the faceoff circle and it slipped past Alex Rigsby for the two-goal lead.
A minute later, a Wisconsin interference call gave Ohio State its first power play of the game and the Buckeyes capitalized with a goal at 11:44. Langan notched her seventh goal of the year with assists to McIntosh and Natalie Spooner.
UW tallied in the second period and again in the third to cut the Ohio State lead to 3-2. But after Wisconsin pulled its goalie, Langan sealed the 4-2 victory at 19:31 with an empty-net goal for her second score of the game.
Sophomore goalie Lisa Steffes tallied 28 stops in the win to improve to 12-10-1 on the season.