The No. 5 University of Minnesota Duluth women's hockey team fell 7-2 to No. 3 Ohio State University  in the Western Collegiate Hockey Association Final Face-Off second semifinal game Saturday night at Ridder Arena.  The Bulldogs, unable to dig out of a second period deficit that eventually carried the Buckeyes to victory, are 11-6-0 overall and will now rely on the NCAA tournament committee to extend their season tomorrow evening.

"Ohio State, credit them, they kept coming at us and grabbed a lot of momentum after that first power play goal and they kept coming at us," said UMD head coach Maura Crowell.  "They came at us in waves and kept us on our heels, and were able to pile up some goals there.  We eventually responded, but just not fast enough."

After holding the Buckeyes without a single shot on net in the first six minutes of action, OSU scored the game's first goal against the grain at 6:50 of the first period.  Teghan Inglis had her shot tipped, and the rebound stayed just out of Emma Soderberg's reach long enough for Emma Maltais to pop in it for her fourth of the season for the 1-0 lead.

The Bulldogs responded in the most impressive of ways -- with a breakaway goal from freshman winger Katie Davis.  Davis skated in a feed from Anneke Linser from OSU's blueline and beat Buckeye goaltender Andrea Braendli high for her first collegiate goal at 12:26 of the frame to draw the Bulldogs even at 1-1.

The second period ice tipped entirely in the favor of the Buckeyes, however, and OSU used four goals over a 5:37 span to dig a hole the Bulldogs would not recover from.  It started with a power play goal from OSU's Jennifer Gardiner at the 2:20 mark, followed by another goal off a rebound at 3:40 to give the Buckeyes a 3-1 advantage.  OSU scored two more tallies  at 6:02 and 7:57, and when the dust settled, UMD found themselves trailing 5-1.

Freshman forward Clara Van Wieren cut into the Buckeyes lead at 10:22 on a rifle that beat Braendli cleanly for her seventh goal of the year, but Liz Schepers put OSU back up 6-2 after hammering at a puck Jojo Chobak initially stopped at 13:19.

OSU's Tatum Skaggs scored her second goal of the night on the power play at 11:43 of the third period, and UMD could just not get any offense generated with enough bite to reel in the Buckeyes.

Chobak played 32:03 of the contest and made 15 saves, while Soderberg had 10 stops in the first 27:57.  Braendli had 18 saves for OSU, who also brought Lynsey Wallace on with 3:39 remaining and who made a save.  The Buckeyes (12-5-0) managed to outshoot the Bulldogs 32-21 and went 2-of-3 on the power play.  UMD was 0-of-2 with the extra skater.

UMD, which has made a strong case this season for three or four WCHA teams getting the call up,  will await its NCAA postseason fate tomorrow night. The eight-game field will be announced on NCAA.com at 8:00 p.m.