The No. 6/7 University of Minnesota Duluth women's hockey team suffered a 5-2 setback to No. 2 Ohio State University Friday afternoon in the opening game of a two-game Western Collegiate Hockey Association series at AMSOIL Arena.

"I thought it was back and forth, and we took advantage of a big mistake that they made and they took advantage of mistakes that we made," said UMD head coach Maura Crowell. " It was different than it was last weekend, but I never felt like we were out of the game. We'll be alright, we'll get better tomorrow."

For a third-straight game, the Bulldogs opened up the game's scoring, and this time, senior forward Katie Davis did the honors. Davis, along with Olivia Wallin both got to a puck on net off a shot from the point from rookie blueliner Ida Karlsson, and Davis' stick knocked it through OSU goaltender Amanda Thiele first at 3:07 for the opening lead.

OSU struck back with a pair of goals from Hadley Hartmetz 1:32 apart. Hartmetz's goals, which included a power play tally, put the Buckeyes out front 2-1, a lead OSU took into the first intermission.

That OSU lead extended to 3-1 on a shorthanded goal by Jenna Buglioni 5:30 into the second period, but UMD again pulled within one on graduate senior forward Reece Hunt's second goal in as many games. Hunt took an errant puck from Thiele in the slot and buried it at 12:36 to make it a 3-2 game, a score that would hold up after 40 minutes of action.

The lone two goals of the third period came from OSU, however, one at 3:57 and then an empty-netter with just 1:06 left to tilt game one of the series to the Buckeyes.

Rookie goaltender Ève Gascon, making just her second career start for the Bulldogs, had 31 saves in net, while Thiele had just 10 for OSU. The Buckeyes were 1-of-2 on their power play, while UMD was held scoreless in six attempts. OSU outshot UMD 36-12 in the game.

The two sides will clash again Saturday afternoon at AMSOIL to finish up the WCHA series. Game-time is set for 3:00 p.m.