No. 2 Wisconsin (22-1-1 WCHA, 28-1-1 overall) continued its march toward the postseason this weekend, getting its 10th straight win and successfully downing conference adversary Ohio State (5-18-1 WCHA, 9-20-1 overall) by a combined two-day score of 4-1. Although Wisconsin found itself on top at the end of both outings, Ohio State showed great improvement from the beginning of the season when the Badgers swept OSU in Madison by a score of 15-0.
Friday was a particularly close match between the two rival universities when OSU managed to push Wisconsin to the final buzzer, ending with a final score of 2-1. It was one of the rare instances when Wisconsin was forced to play without a significant advantage in puck control.
"I thought we played really well, especially without the puck," Wisconsin head coach Mark Johnson told UWBadgers.com. "We eliminated a lot of scoring opportunities, which can be challenging on the smaller rink that we played on tonight especially in the second half of the game. In the third period, we didn't give them too many opportunities and kept their shots down. Certainly the two 5-on-3s that were against us, we did a great job of killing those penalties.”
The usual suspects led UW to the win. Standout junior goaltender Ann-Renée Desbiens ended the night with a .929 save percentage, stopping 13 of OSU’s 14 shot attempts. In addition to keeping points off the scoreboard, the Badger ‘D’ also tallied a goal of their own when junior defender Jenny Ryan lit the lamp for the sixth time this season in the first period on UW’s second power play of the night.
"We have been working on our power play," Ryan told UWBadgers.com. "[Erika] Sowchuk and Sam [Cogan] did a nice little cycle there and Sowchuk gave it to me up top, and I wound up for a slap shot when I saw an open lane."
UW’s leading scorer, sophomore forward Annie Pankowski, added a goal early in the third frame for the Cardinal and White off of a combined assist from sophomore forward Emily Clark and freshman forward Sam Cogan.
OSU responded and got moving midway through the third period when junior forward and Verona, Wis., native Claudia Kepler scored on Ohio State’s first shot on goal of the period. The Buckeyes got a late opportunity to tie the score in the form of a power play but ultimately were unable to capitalize before time expired.
Statistically, Saturday was very much like the previous night’s contest when Wisconsin dominated the shot count and played stifling defense. Desbiens finished Saturday stopping 17 of 17 shot attempts and completing her 15th shutout of the season, the 31st of her career.
Wisconsin broke the ice in the second matchup when sophomore forward Baylee Wellhausen scored at the 4:02 mark in the second period giving the Badgers a 1-0 lead.
Neither team found the net until the final frame when Cogan scored her second point of the weekend off of an assist from Clark.
Wisconsin has four games left in the regular season before postseason play begins.
UWBadgers.com contributed to this report.
