What a difference a day makes.

A difference that saw the No. 8 University of Minnesota Duluth women's hockey team rise up and respond with a 5-4 overtime thriller against No. 1 Ohio State University at AMSOIL Arena Saturday in a game the Bulldogs never trailed in.  Junior forward Clara Van Wieren had two goals, including the game-winner, while five other players had two point outings in a Western Collegiate Hockey Association game that had all the foreshadowing of next March.

"We talked about just playing fearless hockey and we knew we didn't play our game yesterday, and I think that performance today shows you what an experienced team can do in response to a disappointing opening yesterday," said head coach Maura Crowell. "They were ready to roll at the drop of the puck. I loved our first 10 minutes. I thought we were relentless."

Relentless might have been an understatement for the Bulldogs, who were buzzing from the opening puck drop. The result was the game's first goal, a rebound shoveled in by graduate senior forward Taylor Anderson between the legs of OSU goaltender Raygan Kirk 8:49 into the opening period. Van Wieren followed Anderson's goal less than a minute later, keeping her stick on the ice and ripping in Mannon McMahon's pass from behind the net to give UMD the early 2-0 lead. 

The Buckeyes responded with two goals of their own, one just over a minute behind Van Wieren's tally, and then a power play goal by Sophie Jaques at 10:13 of the second period to knot the game at 2-2. But every OSU effort was met by a bigger Bulldog effort, and UMD flexed its own power play prowess at the 17:55 mark of the second period to retake the 3-2 lead.  Kylie Hanley's feed to Gabby Krause on the left post was spun by Krause and crossed across the crease to Jobst-Smith out from the right post, and Jobst-Smith did the rest to net her third goal of the season with a one-time blast.

UMD held that 3-2 lead until 2:39 of the third period, when Makenna Webster once again evened the score. Again, the Bulldogs answered back, and this time in the form of Hanley, who had UMD's lone goal Friday. Hanley followed her own shot from the left side, took her rebound around the net and stuffed it home for the Bulldogs fourth goal of the game at 8:55. OSU's power play hit the mark again at 14:36 on a tally from Gabby Rosenthal that again drew the contest even at 4-4, and after 60 minutes of play, the two sides found themselves in overtime for the second time in four meetings this season.

Despite opening overtime on a power play, UMD's game-winner came in the run of even 3-on-3 action. With commanding possession in extra time, Van Wieren finally decided she could end it at 3:37. Van Wieren skated the puck from the right circle to the left circle, and unloaded from the left dot for her second game-winning goal of the season, and without question, the most important.

Emma Soderberg picked up the win for the Bulldogs between the net, turning in a 31 save performance for her 10th win of the season and 43rd of her career. Kirk had 27 stops for the Buckeyes, who just outshot UMD 35-32, but were dominated by the Bulldogs 4-1 in overtime. OSU, who fell to 14-2-2 overall and 13-2-1 in WCHA play, finished 2-of-4 on the power play, with three of their six goals on the weekend coming with an extra skater.

The win, UMD's first against a No. 1 team since Feb. 26, 2021 (a 4-2 triumph over then No. 1 Wisconsin), was a statement for a team with arguably the most grueling schedule in the nation to this point.

"It's definitely a statement," said Jobst-Smith after the game. "I think yesterday we spent a lot of time looking in the rearview mirror, and now it's all like no, we aren't looking back, we're done with that."

The Bulldogs (12-6-0, 6-6-0) will look to build on Saturday's upset momentum next weekend when they host St. Thomas University in another Friday-Saturday series that gets underway at 3:00 p.m. both days.

BULLDOG NOTES: UMD is now 4-2 in overtime games this season and 3-5 against ranked teams … Saturday marked the sixth time in 18 games UMD has scored four or more goals … it was the Bulldogs' biggest output against the Buckeyes since they dropped five on them in a 5-2 win on Dec. 2, 2021 … Clara Van Wieren has scored three goals in four games against the Buckeyes this season, and four total against teams ranked No. 1 over six skates…. Saturday was the fifth-straight game a UMD/OSU game has been decided by one goal … UMD is 14-4-2 against the Buckeyes at AMSOIL since the 2013-14 season, and 74-26-9 all-time … Mannon McMahon and Nina Jobst-Smith led all scorers against the Buckeyes this season, with four points in four games … both players posted one goal and three assists.with 43 wins, Emma Soderberg ties Tuula Puputti for the eighth most wins in program history … Soderberg's all-time record is 43-22-0, while Puputti's is 43-13-6 … Kylie Hanley has notched a goal in her last three games, posting three goals and two assists for five points in that span … Besides Van Wieren (2 goals) and Hanley (1g, 1a), three other players recorded two points Saturday, including Jobst-Smith (1g, 1a), McMahon (2a) and Gabby Krause (2a).