MANKATO, Minn--- Minnesota State women's hockey is set to travel to Columbus, Ohio to begin WCHA play against No. 5 Ohio State. The series will start on Friday at 6:07 p.m., (ET) and then conclude on Saturday at 1:07 p.m., (ET) with both games being played at Ohio State Ice Rink.

Minnesota State All-Time: The MSU women's hockey program — started in 1998-99 — is currently in its 21st season of competition and has compiled a 178-464-57 (.295) record in 699 total games played. The Mavericks are in their 20th year as members of the Western Collegiate Hockey Association and hold a 111-367-46 (.255) in 524 games played.

Last Time on the Ice: Minnesota State (2-0-0, 0-0-0-0 WCHA) began its official 2018-19 season with a nonconference sweep over Rensselaer on Sept. 29-30. The Mavericks won 2-0 on the 29th and 3-1 on the 30th. This was the first series sweep for MSU since the 2016-17 season over RIT.

In their first action of the 2018-19 season, the Mavericks looked more seasoned from last year and also had great contributions from newcomers as well. On Sept. 29, Minnesota State completed its first shutout since the 2015-16 against Union. Senior Rebekah Kolstad opened the season by scoring the first goal, which was also her first career game-winning goal. Sophomore Mariah Gardner scored the first goal of her career and both goals came in the second period of the game. 

In the Sept. 30 win, sophomore Brittyn Fleming scored her first goal of the season after leading the Mavericks in points last season. Freshman Anna Wilgren also scored her first goal as a Maverick over the weekend and was also the game winning goal. Senior captain Corbin Boyd scored an empty net goal in the third period to put the game out of reach.

In net, freshman Abigail Levy started both games for the Mavericks, winning both and getting her first collegiate shutout. On the weekend, Levy made 42 saves, garnered a 0.50 goals-against average and have a save percentage of .977. Levy went on to receive WCHA Rookie of the Week for her efforts.

Scouting Ohio State: The No. 5 Buckeyes (3-0-1, 0-0-0-0 WCHA) have started the season with a series sweep over Quinnipiac and a series split with No. 8 Colgate. OSU was picked to finish third in the WCHA preseason poll this season after finishing second to Wisconsin last season. 

The Buckeyes offense features sophomore Emma Maltais, who is the reigning WCHA Rookie of the Year and is currently leading OSU in scoring (1-6--7). Another sophomore Tatum Skaggs returns as the leading goal scorer from last season (22) and has four goals this season.

In net, Ohio State features sophomore Amanda Zeglen who has started three out of four games so far and has gone 3-0. She holds a 2.33 goals against average,  a .908 save percentage and 69 saves so far this season.. 

Facing Ohio State: All-time, the Mavericks are 13-61-8 against the Buckeyes. The last time the two teams met was in the first round of the WCHA tournament last season when Ohio State won both games 6-0 and 5-2.

Looking Ahead: The Mavericks will host their first WCHA series of the 2018-19 season against St. Cloud State at Verizon Center. Friday, Oct. 19 the game will begin at 7:07 p.m., and on Sunday, Oct. 20 the puck will drop at 1:07 p.m.