MINNESOTA STATE MAVERICKS

Columbus, Ohio — The Minnesota State women's hockey team lost their first game of the year after a 7-6 shootout at Ohio State. The Mavericks entered the game with a record of 3-0-1 overall and 1-0-1 in the Western Collegiate Hockey Association. 

Just 1:36 into the first period, Ohio State jumped up 1-0 after a Rachel Davis scored on a pass from Raelyn LaRocque. The Mavericks tied the game up with sophomore forward Moira O’Connor's first goal of the season on passes from sophomore forward Emmi Leinonen and senior forward Ashley Young.

Freshman forward Lauren Smith captured the lead with her second goal short handed goal of the season with an assist from Young. That lead didn't last long, Ohio State tied up the game, 2-2 after a Hokey Langan scored her fifth goal of the year. The Mavericks then tallied two goals for go up 4-2. Junior defenseman Amy Udvig scored her first goal of the season with assists from O’Connor and Leinonen and Smith scored her second goal of the game on passes from Young and senior forward Christina Lee. 16:33 into the third the Buckeyes narrowed the Mavericks lead to just one after a Paige Semenza goal.

The Mavericks opened up the third with O’Connor's second goal of the evening, increasing their lead to 5-3. After Ohio State's Langan earned her second goal of the night to pull back within one of MSU, Young scored her second goal of the evening on passes from senior captain and forward Kala Buganski and Lauren Smith to put the Mavericks up 6-4 with 8:09 left in the game. The Buckeyes attack and powerplay opportunities overwhelmed the Mavericks as Ohio State scored three goals, two of them power play goals, in the final 7:49 to defeat the Mavericks 7-6.

Minnesota State's Leinonen earned her eighth and ninth points of the season with her two assists and now leads MSU in goals (5) and points (9). Young tallied her second goal and  third, fourth and fifth assists of the season and now sits second on the team in points with seven and first on the squad in assists with five.

Sophomore goaltender Alli Altmann dropped her first game of the season and is now 3-1-1 with the loss. Altmann saved 29 shots and allowed seven goals. She now owns 127 saves, a 2.56 goals against average and a .907 save percentage on the year.

The Mavericks (3-1-1 overall, 1-1-1 WCHA) will wrap up the series against the Buckeyes in Columbus, Ohio tomorrow night. The puck drops at 7:07 p.m. (est.).

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