The No. 7 University of Minnesota Duluth women's hockey team was shut out by No. 1 Ohio State University 3-0 Friday night at OSU Ice Rink in Columbus, Ohio.

While Buckeyes snapped the Bulldogs three-game unbeaten streak prior to the Western Collegiate Hockey Association matchup, UMD showed some strengths that the head coach Maura Crowell expects to build on for Saturday's matinee game.

"You know, we still have a lot of players that haven't played here in their careers, and are playing big minutes for us," said Crowell. "So I think the experience that our players got today, being in that gauntlet and weathering it and finding out, yes, you've got more in the tank than you think, is really important for our group. We need to attack it tomorrow like we did in the first period, not be swayed by different things that come up in games, because we're used to that. And you know, I think we need to have a little poise on the puck."

The Bulldog and Buckeyes battled to a fairly even first period, OSU with the slight 13-7 edge on shots on goal. But Buckeye Kelsey King broke through sophomore goaltender Hailey MacLeod with just nine seconds remaining in the frame to take the 1-0 lead into the first intermission.

The Buckeyes managed more shots on goal than the Bulldogs in the second period (18-3), but after another successful UMD penalty kill, Joy Dunne's strike from the circle gave OSU a 2-0 lead at 17:01. The Buckeyes would add one more later in the evenly-skated third off a face-off mishap for the 3-0 final, but the Bulldogs did have bright spots in their setback, including holding OSU to seven shots in the final frame.

UMD blocked a season-high 27 shots in the game – the most by a Bulldog side since it blocked 30 against Northeastern University in the 2022 NCAA Frozen Four semifinals (March 18, 2022). The Bulldogs also fended off all three OSU power plays it faced to run its current penalty kill record to 31-consecutive successful power plays. MacLeod had 35 saves against OSU, who did outshoot UMD 38-14 in the game, while Raygan Kirk had 14 stops for the Buckeyes, who improved to 19-2-0 overall and 16-1-0 in the WCHA.

UMD (13-8-2, 10-7-0) will have a chance to bounce back early tomorrow afternoon when the puck drops in OSU Ice Rink at 1:00 p.m. CT.