Bulldogs eliminated in WCHA semifinals, await NCAA Tournament fate - Duluth News Tribune

MINNEAPOLIS — Haley McLeod, a sophomore goaltender from Duluth, Minn. and February's Goaltender of the Month, has allowed just two runs and three shutouts in her past five starts and is heading into the 2024 WCHA Finals. Went for a face-off.

It took No. 1 Ohio State less than 12 minutes for McLeod to score twice, with the two scoring 44 seconds apart, giving the Bulldogs a 5-5 lead in the league semifinals Friday at Ridder Arena. I won with 0.

WCHA Rookie of the Year Joy Dunn and Kiara Zanon scored in the first period for the Buckeyes. Emma Peschel and Makenna Webster added goals in the second period, and Olivia Mobley added another point early in the third period.

McLeod, an All-WCHA second-team selection, had a season-high five points on 39 saves on 44 shots. His previous highs were three points against OSU on January 19th and three points against St. Cloud State University on December 9th.

“I thought she made a lot of really good saves,” UMD coach Maura Crowell said Friday of McLeod. “I thought our (defensive) zone was unusually bad today. The pressure she was feeling started from everyone else, and unfortunately you, the goalie, were getting a lot of attention. There is.”

Fifth-year senior goaltender Raegan Kirk, a top-three finalist for national goaltender of the year, earned OSU's third individual shutout of the season with 17 saves. UMD had a four-game shutout in a row against the Buckeyes.

Meanwhile, the Bulldogs are 0-6 in WCHA Final Faceoff semifinals dating back to 2019, with three of those six losses coming against Ohio State.

“I think we can learn a lot from this game,” Bulldogs captain Manon McMahon said. “Obviously, OSU is a great team and we're going to continue to play great teams. Things don't always go our way. We love to play defense and (defensive) ) This is a team that thrives in the zone. “When you're in the D zone, you just know that sometimes the puck is going to come in. Just being able to reset and move forward. It’s going to be very important to us.”

UMD is currently awaiting the NCAA Tournament selection show on Sunday at 11 a.m. on ESPNews to see if the season ends with a fourth straight NCAA Tournament berth. The Bulldogs remain in eighth place in the pairwise rankings (the system used to select at-large teams and seed the 11-team tournament field), and if UMD maintains the eighth spot, they will will advance to the finals. big bed.

Female college student playing ice hockey — Minnesota Duluth goaltender Haley McLeod, 35, makes a save against Ohio State in the WCHA Final Faceoff semifinals at Ridder Arena in Minneapolis on Friday.

Quinnipiac was swept in the quarterfinals of the ECAC tournament a week ago, but is still in ninth place pairwise. The chair of the NCAA Women's Ice Hockey Championship Committee told USCHO.com on a podcast earlier this week that the Bobcats are unlikely to be able to get past UMD pairwise.

“As I sit here today, I think Quinnipiac is probably out of the lineup,” Merrimack athletic director Jeremy Gibson said on USCHO.com’s women’s hockey podcast “The PodKaz.”

Ohio State University 5, Duluth, Minnesota 0

Minnesota Duluth 0-0-0—0
Ohio State University 2-2-0—0
First period
1. OSU, Joy Dunn (Sloane Matthews, Emma Peschel), 11:03
2. OSU, Chiara Zanon (Jennifer Gardiner, Jenna Brioni), 11:47
Second period
3. OSU, Peschel (Gardiner, Brioni), 5:31
4. OSU, Makenna Webster (Hannah Birka, Jocelyn Amos), 13:54
third period
5. OSU, Olivia Mobley (Dan, Sloane Matthews), 3:30
keep – Haley McLeod, UMD, 39 years old. Raegan Kirk, OSU, 17 years old.
power play – UMD 0-2, OSU 0-1. Penalties — UMD2-4; Osunobu 3-6.