Ohio State Women’s Hockey Falls to Wisconsin in National Championship Game for Second Straight Year

By Dan Hope on March 22, 2026 at 6:43 pm
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Ohio State suffered a heartbreaking loss to Wisconsin in the NCAA women’s hockey national championship game for the second year in a row.

The top-ranked Buckeyes fell to the second-seeded Badgers, 3-2, in Sunday’s Frozen Four final, marking the third time in four years that Ohio State has lost to Wisconsin in the national championship game.

After falling into an early 2-0 hole, Ohio State tied the game with a pair of goals by Kassidy Carmichael and Jocelyn Amos early in the third period. A goal by Wisconsin’s Claire Enright with 6:18 to play, however, made the ultimate difference for the Badgers, who won their fifth national championship since 2019.

Wisconsin took the lead less than two minutes into the game as Kelly Gorbatenko redirected a shot from Adéla Šapovalivová past Ohio State goalie Hailey MacLeod on the Badgers’ very first shot of the game. Just over six minutes later, Laney Potter fired a shot past MacLeod on assists from Gorbatenko and Šapovalivová, giving Wisconsin a 2-0 lead on just three shots on goal.

Neither team would score for the rest of the first period or the entirety of the second period as Wisconsin goalie Ava McNaughton stopped all of Ohio State’s first 23 shots on goal.

The Buckeyes finally broke through for their first goal of the game with 16:28 to play as Carmichael tipped a shot by Mira Jungåker past McNaughton. Just over two minutes later, Amos used some fancy stickwork to get a game-tying goal past McNaughton, evening the score 2-2 with 14:26 to play.

Wisconsin pulled back in front with 6:18 to play, however, when MacLeod’s stick got stuck on the pad of Ohio State defenseman Emma Peschel, allowing Claire Enright to score a go-ahead goal for the Badgers. Enright’s goal would be the game-winner as Ohio State was unable to score again.

After Wisconsin was awarded a game-tying penalty shot with 18.9 seconds left in regulation that ultimately led to the Badgers’ overtime win in last year’s national championship game, Ohio State coach Nadine Muzerall attempted to get the Buckeyes a game-tying penalty shot of their own with a challenge following a scrum near Wisconsin’s net with 42.2 seconds to play. Replay review determined no Wisconsin player covered Jungåker’s shot with a glove, however, resulting in a penalty for Ohio State since the Buckeyes had already used their timeout. The Badgers secured a 3-2 win from there.

Sunday’s loss is a disappointing end to an otherwise excellent season for the Buckeyes, who defeated Wisconsin in the WCHA Final Faceoff to win their third conference tournament title and earn the No. 1 overall seed in the NCAA Tournament. The Buckeyes have now played in each of the last five national championship games, winning two of them.

Each of their three losses, however, has come against the Badgers, who have now won five of the last seven national championships and nine all-time, the most of any school.

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