After losing their first game of the season to No. 4, the Buckeyes women’s hockey team have won five straight games. They took game two of the series from the Raiders, then swept both No. 6 Minnesota Duluth and St. Thomas on the road putting them at 5-1 to start the season.
On Oct. 20, Ohio State took down the Tommies 6-2 behind two goals by graduate transfer forward Hannah Bilka. She scored the first goal of the game just over a minute into the first period and her second goal was the last of the game, coming with only 1:53 left to go in the third period. Both goals were assisted by freshman Joy Dunne. Bilka also had an assist of her own.
The other four goals were scored by Lauren Bernard, Jocelyn Amos, Kiara Zanon, and Emma Peschel.
Saturday was no different for the Buckeyes, taking down St. Thomas 7-1, led by Zanon who had two goals to lead OSU to the big win. Kenzie Hauswirth, Olivia Mobley, Jennifer Gardner, Kelsey King and Cayla Barnes also scored.
In the early part of the season, the Buckeyes have been spreading out the points. 17 players have at least one point through six games, and six of them have five or more. They have depth and each line is a threat to score, proving early on why they are a top team in the country yet again.
Field Hockey Prepares For Big Ten Tournament
The Ohio State field hockey team lost three out of four games before its 7-0 senior day win over Bellarmine. The losses were all to top teams, No. 16 Penn State, No. 4 Rutgers and No. 10 Maryland, and the Buckeyes lost by a combined three goals in those games. They took the Rutgers to a shootout after neither team was able to score a goal in regulation, or overtime.
However, they were able to finish the regular season on a very high note against Bellarmine. Lindsey Roberts, Cameryn Forgash, Julie Rodijk and Jessica Courtright each had a goal of their own, and freshman Brenna Bough had a hat trick, the first of her career, showing the future is bright for the Buckeyes.
Now OSU will gear up for the Big Ten Tournament that takes place from Nov. 2-5 in Ann Arbor Michigan. Last season, they made the tournament as No. 7 in the conference and lost to No. 2 Mayland in the first round, so they will be trying to make a further run with a championship in mind, and a hope to cash a bid to the NCAA Tournament.
They finished with a 13-5 record, which will leave them in consideration for a highly coveted spot in the NCAA bracket, but after their hot start fizzled out against some very good competition late in the season they may need to prove they belong in the conference tournament where seven of the top 20 teams in the country play.
Three Buckeyes Crowned Champions In Fencing Event
Solin Li, Luca Fioretto and Gabriel Feinberg each won gold for the men’s fencing squad, with Edriss Ndiaye, Miles Weiss, Ilya Ayupov, Paul Veltrup, Kelly Liu and Nolan Williams all finished in the top four for a successful weekend for the Buckeyes at Penn State.
They took home five of the top seven places in men’s foil, and each of the top three in epee, while saber had five Buckeyes in the top 10. Alina Lee was the only one on the women’s team to take home gold, hers in foil.
The Buckeyes next event will be Nov. 4-5 when they go to the USAF Academy in Colorado for the Western Invitational. After that they will be back in Columbus for the Elite Invitational on Nov. 19 then will be off until January.
