Top-ranked Wisconsin entered play Saturday with a 26-game home-winning streak—a streak that, until late in the third period, looked to be in jeopardy. Wisconsin (3-0-1-1 WCHA, 3-0-1 overall) tied Ohio State (0-1-1-0, 2-1-1) 1-1, but the Badgers won the shootout 1-0 Saturday afternoon at LaBahn Arena.
“I thought we played real well today and didn’t give them many opportunities, the team played hard,” head coach Mark Johnson said. “Some nights the goaltender for the other team is the number one star and we saw that tonight.”
Wisconsin again outshot the Buckeyes in the first period by a margin of 13-4, but this time were unable to score. Ohio State redshirt sophomore goalie Kassidy Sauve kept the Badgers offense in check, despite some good looks for UW.
OSU only had one shot on goal in the second period, and they made it count, taking a 1-0 lead thanks to a Julianna Iafallo goal with 7:51 left. The Badgers controlled the puck for most of the period, including amassing 10 shots on net. Ohio State’s goal marked the first time that UW had trailed at home since a Dec. 4, 2015 victory over Minnesota.
Sauve was under pressure most of the third period for OSU. With just 1:54 remaining, sophomore left winger Sam Cogan finally slipped the puck past Sauve for the equalizing power play goal, bringing the LaBahn crowd to its feet. UW continued its pressure in the Ohio State zone, getting several good looks before the buzzer, but were unable to capitalize and the game went to overtime.
“I was just excited, I was like ‘ok, we can come back here and we can win this game,’” Cogan said. “Everybody is going to come and give us their hardest game no matter what, and even if we’re getting a bunch of shots on goal, it’s not about quantity, but quality, so we need quality shots on net and that’s going to get us goals.”
Neither team was able to score in the three-minute overtime period and the game went to a shootout. After both Wisconsin and Ohio State’s skaters missed their first shot, freshman forward Abby Roque took the puck, raced down the ice and beat Sauve for the eventual shootout winner.
“It was an awesome goal, I know it’s always nerve-wracking taking the shootout for the team, but she came in clutch and she got the goal,” Cogan said. “I was really proud of her.”
Johnson went with the freshman for the shootout because of her impressive play in the final period.
“She was probably our best player overall and she was on a mission, like ‘I want to score a goal, I want to help the team, I want to tie the game up’,” Johnson said. “There are some players that don’t want to take a shootout, they don’t want to get in front of the crowd and they think that they’re going to miss. For a young freshman to do that, she’ll continue to grow and she’s got a bright future.”
For the second straight game, UW easily outshot the Buckeyes, with a 38-7 edge Saturday.
Cogan said that despite the lack of shots going in the net, the Badgers stayed positive.
“Sauve played extremely well, there’s not much you can do about that,” Cogan said. “When a goalie’s on point, you just got to keep giving it your all. We had to stay calm and just know that we know how to score a goal.”
Wisconsin begins a stretch of three-straight road series, starting with Clarkson Oct. 14 and 15. UW returns to LaBahn Nov. 5 and 6 with a series against Bemidji State.
