MANKATO, Minn.--- Minnesota State (7-10-0, 3-9-0 WCHA) is set to travel to Columbus, Ohio to take on top-ranked Ohio State (14-2-0, 11-1-0 WCHA) for the final series of the 2023 calendar year. The action starts at 6 p.m. (EST) on Saturday at the Ohio State Ice Hockey Rink.

Last Time Out:
Minnesota State dominated St. Thomas outscoring the Tommies 10-2 while outshooting UST 87-40 over the weekend. On Friday, Minnesota State skated to a dominant 7-1 victory against the University of St. Thomas. 

Senior Sydney Langseth kicked off the scoring at the 11:38 mark of the opening period beating UST's Calla Frank on a breakaway. Seniors Jamie Nelson and goaltender Lauren Barbro registered assists on the play.

In similar fashion, Senior Kennedy Bobyck notched her third goal on the season just under three minutes later with Nelson collecting her second assist of the game to give the Mavericks the 2-0 lead heading into the first intermission.

Scoring just 13 seconds apart to open the second period, sophomore Taylor Otremba and junior Claire Vekich collected scores with helpers coming from juniors Shelbi Guttormson, MacKenzie Bourgerie, and sophomore Whitney Tuttle.

Once UST pulled Frank, Nelson welcomed UST goaltender Olivia King into the game sending a shot under the blocker and collecting her eleventh on the season. Freshman Kamryn Van Batavia registered an assist on the play sending the Mavericks into the second intermission with a 5-0 lead.  

After UST solved Barbro at the 2:34 mark of the third period, Otremba and Langseth both notched their second of the night to seal the Mavericks' 7-1 victory.

Minnesota State completed the sweep after its 3-1 victory on Saturday.  

Junior MacKenzie Bourgerie opened the scoring at the 7:10 mark of the first period with an unassisted tally off a Tommie misplay in the slot where she could lift a rocket blocker-side past UST's goaltender Calla Frank for her second tally of the season.  

Just 43 seconds later, senior Sydney Langseth launched a dump-in at center ice for it to skip past Frank's paddle to give the Mavericks an early two-goal lead.

The Tommies scored on the power play to cut the lead in half at the end of the first. 

After a scoreless second period, freshman JuliAnna Gazdik received a masterful saucer pass from Langseth on the back post taking advantage of the opportunity to collect her first collegiate goal at the 4:14 mark of the final period.  The goal was the first of her career for Gazdik.

Taking on OSU:  
Ohio State (14-2-0, 11-1-0 WCHA) sits atop the WCHA with 31 points on the year. For the third consecutive week, OSU sits atop both the USCHO and USA Hockey Magazine polls with the past two rankings coming with unanimous consideration as the top spot. This season, the Buckeyes have outscored WCHA opponents 56-19 while tallying an even greater margin overall at 77-25.

Headlining the Buckeyes' offense are seniors Jennifer Gardiner, Hannah Bilka, and Kiara Zanon who have all registered 18 points or more on the season. Gardiner leads OSU with 10 goals on the season to go along with 11 assists for a team-leading 21 points through 16 games. In her last 11 games, she has registered at least one point in 10 of them.

Bilka has established herself as one of the main distributors on the team registering 13 assists on the year which ranks seventh in the WCHA. Zanon has collected a point in four out of the last six games as she is third on the team in points with 18 after accumulating nine goals and assists. In 104 previous matchups with the Buckeyes, the Mavericks hold a 14-79-11 record. The last victory against OSU came in a shootout on October 19, 2019, following a 3-3 tie.  

In goal, OUS relies on its duo of seniors Amanda Thiele and Raygan Kirk who combine for 1.56 goals against average and a .918 save percentage. Both goaltenders come into the weekend with 7-1-0 records on the season.