Mankato, Minn. --- The Minnesota State women's hockey team will travel to Columbus, Ohio to play the #5 Ohio State Buckeyes in the WCHA Quarterfinals for the third consecutive season. The puck will drop at 6:07 p.m. ET and 3:07 p.m. ET on Feb. 28-29 at the OSU Ice Rink with a third game scheduled on March 1 at 3:07 p.m. ET if necessary.
 
Minnesota State All-Time: The MSU women's hockey program, which started in 1998-99, is currently in its 22nd season of competition and has compiled a 194-501-70 (.299) record in 765 total games played. The Mavericks are in their 21st year as members in the Western Collegiate Hockey Association and hold a 118-399-55 (.254) record in 572 games played.

Last Time on the Ice: Minnesota State (11-18-6, 4-16-4-3 WCHA) were swept in the final WCHA regular season series to #3 Minnesota by the scores of 5-1 and 3-0. 

In the first game, the Gophers held a 2-0 lead at the end of the first period. Sophomore center Taylor Heise scored the first goal of the game after skating around the outstretched Maverick netminder and going top shelf at the 10:16 mark. Senior winger Sarah Potomak was left unchecked in the middle of the ice at the 17:47 mark as Heise fed Potomak from below the red line and scored inside the right post. The Maverick deficit doubled after the second period with Minnesota scoring two more times in the middle frame. Heise scored her second goal of the game at the 5:49 mark after scoring on a three-on-one rush right outside the crease. Senior winger Alex Woken scored the fourth goal of the game at the 17:07 mark, putting away a rebound off sophomore center Emily Oden's original shot. Minnesota State got on the scoreboard at the 3:17 mark in the third period with freshman winger Kelsey King scoring on the partial breakaway. Senior captain Emily Antony dumped the puck just over the blue line that allowed King to skate in close on the Gopher netminder and score her sixth goal of the season. Minnesota scored one more goal at the 5:07 mark with junior winger Grace Zumwinkle scoring on the play.

In game two, the Gophers scored one goal in each period to take the 3-0 win. Zumwinkle scored at the 11:18 mark in the first period, finishing a two-on-one opportunity with junior blueliner Emily Brown right in front of the net. S. Potomak scored at the 2:45 mark in the second period, sliding the puck just behind the moving netminder for the goal. Minnesota scored the final goal of the game at the 6:50 mark in the third period when sophomore winger Amy Potomak scored the goal and made the final score 3-0.

In net, sophomore Abigail Levy (5-12-3) made 27 saves in the game one defeat and freshman Calla Frank (6-5-3) made 37 saves in the game two loss.

Abundance of Games: Emily Antony can tie Savannah Quandt (2013-17) for the most games played at Minnesota State by playing the next two games. Antony is a fifth-year senior that has played 143 games to date and could tie Quandt with 145 games played. She played 36 games in her freshman campaign and followed with 32 in her sophomore season before redshirting her junior year after playing 10 games due to injury. Last year Antony played in 30 games and has played all 35 games so far this season. 

Main Distributor: Anna Wilgren currently leads the team with 18 assists and 23 points on the season. The assist totals are tied for the fourth most in a season at Minnesota State, while the 23 points is a new single season high for points by a defenseman.

Scouting #5 Ohio State: The Buckeyes (20-8-6, 13-6-5-2 WCHA) finished third in the WCHA regular season standings with 46 points. OSU closed out the regular season with a home sweep over St. Cloud State by the scores of 3-0 and 6-3.

The Buckeyes' offense is led by junior forward Emma Maltais, who leads the team with 37 assists and 55 points, while also scoring 18 goals. Junior forward Liz Schepers leads the team with 20 goals, while also collecting 20 assists for 40 points.

In net, Ohio State features sophomore Andrea Braendli (16-5-5) who has started 27 of the 34 games. She has a 2.00 goals against average, .921 save percentage, 610 saves and two shutouts on the season.

Facing #5 Ohio State: The Mavericks have an all-time record of 14-68-10 against the Buckeyes. In the regular season match-ups this season, MSU and OSU tied 1-1 and 3-3 in Mankato, Minn., with the Mavericks taking the extra conference point on both occasions. The Buckeyes then swept MSU in Columbus, Ohio by the scores of 6-0 and 8-4.

Looking Ahead: Minnesota State can advance to the WCHA Final Faceoff by winning two out of three games against Ohio State. The Final Faceoff will be on March 6-8 in Minneapolis, Minn., at Ridder Arena.