Women’s Division I College Hockey: Ohio State advances to national championship game

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DULUTH — The defending national champion Ohio State Buckeyes will defend their title on Sunday after defeating Northeastern 3-0 in their national semifinal.

The Buckeyes absolutely dominated Northeastern in all 200 feet of ice and for 60 full minutes on Friday afternoon, smothering the Huskies and never letting them find their footing. The game-winning goal came 76 seconds into the game when Goalie of the Year Gwyn Philips left a rebound off a Kenzie Hauswirth shot sitting in front of the net. Freshman Sloane Matthews buried it to make it 1-0.

Huskies’ coach Dave Flint was blunt in his postgame assessment.

“They were definitely the better team on the ice this afternoon,” he said. “It was a track meet we couldn’t keep up with.”

Throughout the season Ohio State coach Nadine Muzerall described her team and their philosophy as relentless. Flint used that exact word to convey the feeling his team had of trying to battle back against wave after wave of Buckeye pressure.

Even as the Huskies tried to adjust, they could not keep up with the pace of the game that the Buckeyes forced on them. After cruising through their regular season schedule having their way with Hockey East opponents, they could not adjust to having far less time and space to move the puck and make decisions. Flint was careful to say that his team talked about adjustments, seeming to imply that they weren’t always able to implement them.

“You have to do everything quicker. They really don’t stop. When you’re used to having an extra second to make a play and all of a sudden that window is gone, it’s hard,” he said.

Ohio State held Patty Kazmaier top-3 finalist and the active NCAA leader in points Alina Müller to just one shot in the game and absolutely neutralized the Northeastern top line Muzerall said was one of the best in the county.

For the Buckeyes, their Patty Kazmaier top-3 finalist Sophie Jaques led all players with 10 shots and four blocks. She led a defense that kept the Huskies from passing between their own blueliners or setting their forwards up in transition.

Muzerall was impressed with the way her team executed in every part of the game.

“I’ve coached hockey in division one as an assistant and as a head coach and honestly that is probably the best hockey game that I have ever coached in terms of pride in what my team accomplished,” she said.

The Buckeyes more than tripled Northeastern in shots on goal and more than doubled them in shot attempts. They also went 39-30 at the faceoff dot, something Muzerall credited with allowing her players to really keep control of the game throughout.

Makenna Webster scored on a slapshot from the slot that put her down on one knee to make it 2-0 and Hadley Hartmetz placed a perfect shot bar down for the final goal.

These Huskies end the season with a program-record 34 wins, but come up short in their third straight Frozen Four. Ohio State advances to defend their national champions title against Wisconsin, who they’ll be meeting for the fifth time this season.

Puck drop for the national championship is scheduled for 3 p.m. CT Sunday in Duluth. The game will be televised on ESPNU.

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