Despite outshooting the No. 3 Ohio State University, the No. 4/5 University of Minnesota Duluth could only get one puck past the goal line in a 4-1 Western Collegiate Hockey loss Saturday afternoon at AMSOIL Arena in Duluth, Minn.

The Bulldogs were playing in just their sixth home game of the season out of a possible 16, but home ice was unable to prevent the Buckeyes jumping out to two-goal lead. OSU scored goals at 2:56 and 14:57 to take a 2-0 lead into the first intermission.

OSU doubled that lead again later in the second period, with goals from Joy Dunne and Jordan Petrie 1:25 apart at the 12:31 and 13:14 marks. UMD, who had plenty of chances in the opening frame, finally came through with just over five minutes left in period. 

Caitlin Kraemer passed the puck around an OSU defender to Thea Johansson on the doorstep. Johansson's initial shot was saved, but Danielle Burgen was there to slam in the rebound and make it a 4-1 game.

UMD would come no closer, however, and in game that the Bulldogs outshot the Buckeyes in two of the three periods, OSU picked up the league sweep and extended its current winning streak over UMD to four games.

Eve Gascon made 27 stops for UMD, who was 0-of-5 in the game with an extra skater but outshot OSU 32-31 and 14-10 in the final frame. OSU's Genny Klein had 31 saves, while Dunne figured in three the Buckeyes goals with a goal and two assists. 

The Bulldogs (10-6-0, 6-6-0) will have next weekend off from outside competition before hitting the road again to face Bemidji State University on Dec. 5-6.

BULLDOG NOTES: UMD is just 2-4 at AMSOIL so far this season, but all four games have come against top-3 ranked teams … neither team scored a power play goal on the weekend – UMD went 0-of-5, while the Buckeyes were 0-of-6 … The Bulldogs outshot OSU for the first time since Dec. 2, 2022, a 2-1 loss … it marked the most shots the Bulldogs have put on a Buckeye side since UMD put up 32 on Dec. 3, 2022 in a 5-4 win.