The Ohio State women’s hockey team finds itself in a tight spot after a tough 2-1 loss to Mercyhurst.
The Buckeyes are in fifth place in the WCHA with a few teams closing in on them in the conference.
After taking the first game of the series last weekend with St. Cloud State, the Buckeyes dropped two by one goal.
After the loss on Saturday, the Buckeyes had to regroup at Findlay yesterday. OSU was able to retain its Ohio Cup with 2-1 win over the Oilers. The cup is an interstate rivalry which determines the best team in the state.
But the Buckeyes know they let one get away from them on Saturday.
“We had a few mistakes, and Mercyhurst was really good on capitalizing,” said April Stojak, senior goaltender. “We need to bear down harder on the little things, and once again we need those one-goal games to go our way.”
Physical play dictated both sides–although few penalties were called. Each team appeared to get away with possible penalties for rough play.
The Lakers scored first, but Heather Farrell, junior forward, tied the score at one by the end of the first period.
“Emma (Laaksonen) was coming up, and I just went to the net,” Farrell said. “She shot the puck, and it went off my shin pad.”
The puck deflected several times before it ricocheted into the back of the net. As the equalizer in the game, OSU had a torrid pace throughout the first few minutes of the second period.
Momentum seemed to fluctuate between the teams in the second until Mercyhurst put its second tally on the scoreboard.
“We could have moved our feet a bit more,” said OSU coach Jackie Barto. “We got tied up in some instances, and if you’re not big you have to use your speed, and maybe we didn’t use our speed as much as we could have.”
The third period brought more tough play, but neither team was able to score in the final frame.
“We had not seen this team before so we didn’t really know what to expect, but we definitely like to play the physical games,” Stojak said.
The Buckeyes dropped to 7-14-2 overall on the season, and traveled to Findlay on Sunday to play the Oilers for a chance to hold on to the Ohio Cup. The Ohio Cup is an intrastate rivalry to determine the best team in Ohio.
“Overall picture, we have to defend the Ohio Cup,” Stojak said. “We have had it (the Ohio Cup) for the last three years, and for the seniors it’s our last time to defend it. We want to prove we’re the best team in Ohio. It comes down to one night and we have to come out harder than we did tonight, and not take Findlay for granted.”
The Buckeyes defended the Ohio Cup for another year after defeating the Oilers 2-1.
