The one thing the University of Minnesota Duluth never surrendered over its grueling schedule and start to 2016 was confidence, and the Bulldogs finally reaped the reward of resilience Saturday night against Ohio State University.

UMD overcame a two-goal deficit to defeat the Buckeyes 4-3 at AMSOIL Arena, securing three Western Collegiate Hockey Association points that will keep the Bulldogs in sixth place, ahead of the OSU in seventh.

"I think we had been playing some good hockey all along, and there were just little spurts where we were giving up too many goals, but today was a really consistent effort," said head coach Maura Crowell.  "I loved our speed, I loved our discipline, and we played really tough down the stretch with really good goaltending throughout the game."

Freshman Morgan Morse, who netted UMD's fourth goal Friday night, was at it again Saturday, this time just 2:16 into the first period.  Morse skated in from the left side of the net, and from the extended goal line, slid the puck between OSU netminder Alex LaMere's right skate and the pipe for the 1-0 lead.  A little over two minutes later, junior winger Demi Crossman walked in from the opposite side of LaMere and flipped the puck toward the Buckeye net.  The result was a deflection off Katherine McGovern's stick that fluttered the puck over LaMere for the 2-0 advantage at the 4:33 mark.

OSU answered in similar fashion to the evening before, running off three unanswered goals against the Bulldogs that started with 30 seconds remaining in the first period.  The Buckeyes, outshot by a 2-1 margin in the first period (18-9), rattled off two more goals at 9:27 and then at 10:53 of the second period to take their first lead of the game.

UMD would not be outdone, however, and junior forward Ashleigh Brykaliuk drew the Bulldogs even with a wrist shot from the left circle at 15:09 of the second stanza for the 3-3 tie that would follow both squads into the second intermission.

After shelling the Buckeyes 13-8 in the third period, Morse officially put the Bulldogs stamp in the win column with 1:54 to play in regulation.  The rookie skated into the left circle and cleanly buried the puck to hand UMD the 4-3 triumph.  Morse, who entered the weekend with just one career goal, scored three goals against the Buckeyes in the series.

Senior goaltender Kayla Black made 33 saves for the Bulldogs for her win No. 51 of her career.  LaMere finished with 41 saves for OSU, who was outshot by UMD 45-36.

The Bulldogs hit the road again next weekend when they travel to Mankato, Minn. to take on Minnesota State University, Mankato.  The first game of the series will get underway at 2:07 p.m next Friday.

BULLDOG NOTES:  UMD's 45 shots was the second most shots it has posted this season...The Bulldogs put up 47 against Lindenwood Univeristy on Sept. 27 in a 4-1 win...Two other players besides Morgan Morse had multiple-point games Saturday, including Katherine McGovern (one goal, one assist) and Maria Lindh (two assists).