There are some road warriors here in Columbus, except these warriors do not include Mel Gibson and they’re not cast in a post-apocolyptic getaway film. It’s the Ohio State women’s ice hockey team (12-7-2, 7-3-1 WCHA), who are in the midst of a seven-game, four-week road trip with most of those games coming against ranked teams.

It began last week as the Buckeyes split the series with Bemidji State, winning 4-3 in overtime and then losing 3-1.

This week they move on to Erie, Pa., to take on the No. 7 Mercyhurst Lakers.

The Buckeyes are led by sophomore Jana Harrigan, who has eight goals and 10 assists.

Harrigan, a native of Burlington, Ontario is looking forward to the trip to Mercyhurst.

“The team’s playing great, our goaltending gives us a chance to win every game,” she said. “We look forward to the challenge this weekend of playing a team ranked higher than we are.”

The Lakers are led by sophomore Samantha Shirley, who has 26 points, but close behind is junior forward Theresa Marchese-Del Monte.

The Buckeyes are keeping all the travel in stride.

“Balancing academics and sports isn’t always easy. It’s tiring,” freshman Tessa Bonhomme said. “We have a lot of older girls on our team who are used to it, and the freshmen have to pick it up.”

OSU coach Jackie Barto, in her fifth year, knows how to deal with the long road trips.

“Whenever you’re away for an extended period of time I think you have to really focus and elevate your game,” she said. “It’s hard to play on the road, and this stretch of games, they’re all top teams. Our goal is to elevate our game and take it on the road.”

The goaltending situation for OSU appears to have been settled with fourth-year junior Melissa Glaser starting most of the games. Thus far, Glaser has a 2.38 goals-against average and a .916 save percentage. Freshman Erika Vanderveer has also seen time in goal, starting in six games and winning five.

“I think we’ve got a very strong goaltending tandem in Melissa and Erika,” Barto said. “I have a lot of confidence in them and they both have stepped up and done very well.”

The freshmen for OSU have been contributing more than enough for Barto to notice, with Vanderveer playing in net, along with defensemen Krysta Skarda and Lacey Schultz who are both in the top three among the team in plus/minus rating.

“Our freshmen have made an immediate impact into the program,” Barto said. “They’ve been put into the hot seat early and they have gained valuable experience.”