COLUMBUS, Ohio - Despite scoring the first goal of the season in Western Collegiate Hockey Association play, the Bemidji State University women’s hockey team was upended 2-1 by Ohio State University Saturday afternoon at OSU Ice Rink.

The Beavers fall to 1-5-2 overall and 0-4 in WCHA play, and remain the lone unbeaten and pointless team in conference play. The Buckeyes move to 4-4 on the season and 2-4 in conference action, with both wins coming against Bemidji State.

Power plays played a huge role in this game, as both teams were awarded with multiple scoring chances on the man advantage. At the end of the day, BSU went 1-for-8 on its power-play chances, and the Buckeyes took advantage one time with nine man-advantage opportunities.

Bemidji State had a season-high-tying nine penalties for 18 minutes in the box, and OSU had eight penalties for 16 minutes. This came a day after BSU committed a season-low four penalties.

The Buckeyes gave BSU the early advantage, when Rachel Davis went into the box for checking just 28 seconds into the contest. Bemidji State rattled off two shots, but couldn’t find the back of the net.

The two teams played scoreless hockey until Kaylee Keys (Fr., St. Paul, Minn.) was whistled for high sticking 12:11 into the first period. Davis took advantage of the man-advantage just 24 seconds later, scoring a goal off assists from Laura McIntosh and Natalie Spooner to put the home team up 1-0.

Bemidji State continues to struggle on special teams this season, as the green and white has allowed a power-play goal in all four conference games this season. The Beavers are also last in the WCHA on both the power-play and the penalty kill. They are 1-21 during conference action with a man-advantage and are just 16-for-24 (66 percent) on the penalty kill during the early going this year.

The lone power-ploay marker for BSU came late in the first period of Saturday’s game after Morgan Marziali was whistled for boarding. Erin Cody (So., Roseville, Minn.) fired the first shot of the power play, which found its way into the back of the net at the 17:04 mark for Cody’s first goal of the season. Erin Johnson (So., Farmington, Minn.) assisted on the goal, which is her second helper of the year. Both players extended their team lead in points this year to four.

The goal was the first of the season during WCHA action for Bemidji State, ending the longest shutout drought to start conference play in school history.

The Beavers killed off another penalty, and the two teams skated to a 1-1 tie at the end of the first period.

The second period is where Ohio State took control during Friday’s game, and Saturday would be no different. After being outshot 7-5 in the first frame, the Buckeyes fired 13 shots in the second to just five for BSU.

Despite all those shots, the Beavers were able to deflect the first 12 away from the net. Then, with less than a minute to go in the second frame and after BSU had just got done killing off another penalty, OSU’s leading scorer, Natalie Spooner, scored her third goal of the series with help from McIntosh to put Ohio State ahead 2-1.

Despite getting off a season-high-tying 15 shots in the final period, BSU was never able to notch the equalizer and was defeated for the 15th-straight time in conference play. The losing streak dates back to the lone win in conference play last season, a 4-1 triumph over North Dakota Jan. 11, and is the longest conference losing streak in school history. The longest prior to this streak was 10 games, which was equaled twice in BSU history.

The game following the victory, a Jan. 12 tilt that was won 1-0 by the Fighting Sioux, was the last time the Beavers took 15 shots in a single period against a WCHA opponent.

Keys, Cody and Franny Dorr (Jr., Roseville, Minn.) led the team in shots with four each, and goaltender Zuzana Tomcikova (Fr., Bratislava, Slovakia) dropped to 1-3-1 on the season despite 29 saves in 58:46 of action. This was the first time in her career that she made back-to-back starts.

Bemidji State stays away from John Glas Fieldhouse for one more weekend when the team travels to Mankato, Minn., to take on Minnesota State University Oct. 31-Nov. 1 at All Seasons Arena. The puck will drop on both contests at 7:07 p.m. and 3:07 p.m., respectively.

--bsu--