For the fourth straight season Ohio State and Wisconsin will meet in the title game of the women’s ice hockey NCAA Tournament.
Along with battling in the final game of the season for the fourth year in a row, this marks the sixth time the Buckeyes and Badgers have met this season, with Wisconsin winning three of the first five meetings. Ohio State has just lost one game during their 2025-26 campaign to a team other than Wisconsin.
The Buckeyes opened the Frozen Four on Friday with a 5-0 win over Northeastern
in the first of the two semifinal games played at Pegula Ice Arena. Ohio State took control of the game in the second half of the first period, scoring four goals in the final 10 minutes of the opening period.
Joy Dunne netted the first goal for the Buckeyes on Friday, followed by goals from Kaia Malachino, Sanni Vanhanen, and Emma Peschel in the final four minutes of the first period. Following a scoreless second period, Sara Swiderski scored the only goal of the third period.
With the Buckeye offense applying pressure throughout the game, goaltender Hailey MacLeod didn’t have to work too hard in the semifinal, saving all 15 shots she faced to record her sixth shutout of the season. MacLeod added to her single-season program record with her 26th win this year.
The shutout was the fourth by Ohio State in the NCAA Tournament, with two of them coming against Northeastern. Overall, the Buckeyes are 14-4 in the NCAA Tournament, and 7-4 in the Frozen Four entering today’s championship game.
Ahead of the showdown with Wisconsin, Ohio State had three of their players honored for their play this season. Emma Peschel and Joy Dunne were named All-Americans. Peschel was placed on the first team, while Dunne was named a second team All-American. This marks the third time in program history the Buckeyes have had two All-Americans in the same season.
Along with Peschel and Dunne, Hilda Svensson was named Julie Chu Rookie of the Year, an honor she is sharing with Sara Manness of Clarkson. The last Ohio State player to win the award was Dunne in 2024.
Svensson enters Ohio State’s final game of the season as the team’s leading scorer, registering 51 points. Dunne is right on Svensson’s heels with 50 points and a team-high 27 goals. Jocelyn Amos and Sloane Matthews each have at least 20 goals and 40 points on the season.
Overall, the Buckeyes have 11 skaters with at least 20 points and eight players with at least 10 goals on the season. Through their first 40 games this year, Ohio State has outscored their opponents 179-63.
Following an easy 6-0 win over Quinnipiac last weekend, Wisconsin was pushed in their semifinal by Penn State on Friday, pulling out a 4-3 win in overtime against the Nittany Lions. After Tessa Janecke got Penn State on the board first less than two minutes into the game, Laila Edwards equalized at 4:31 of the first period.
The Nittany Lions responded with another power play goal three minutes later. Edwards again tied the score less than 20 seconds later, this time on the power play. The goal was the 12th by Edwards in the NCAA Tournament, passing Hilary Knight for most in school history.
After the teams went to the locker room after the first tied knotted 2-2, Adela Sapovalivova gave Wisconsin their first lead of the game at 16:09 of the second period. Janecke tied the game up with five minutes to go in the third period to send the game to overtime.
Kirsten Simms secured Wisconsin’s 13th trip to the title game when she scored 50 seconds into overtime, which was also the 100th goal of her career, as well as her fourth game-winning goal in the Frozen Four. Simms is the fifth Badger with 100 goals in program history.
On Saturday, Caroline Harvey was named the recipient of the Patty Kazmaier Memorial Award, given annually to the top player in women’s college hockey. Harvey is the seventh Wisconsin player to be given the award, and second straight after Casey O’Brien won the award last season. Harvey has 63 points on the season, giving her more than 200 points in her career, which makes her the 10th Badger to record at least 200 points.
Leading Wisconsin in scoring this season is Lacey Eden, who has 29 goals and 76 points. Trailing Eden and Harvey in scoring is Kirsten Simms, Kelly Gorbatenko, Cassie Hall, and Laila Edwards, with each of those players compiling at least 40 points this year.
11 Wisconsin skaters have at least 20 points on the season. For as impressive as Ohio State’s scoring differential is, the Badgers are outscoring their competition 210-58.
Wisconsin holds the edge in the season series so far 3-2, but Ohio State won the most important of the five games played so far when they beat the Badgers 2-1 two weeks ago in the WCHA Final Faceoff championship game.
In the most recent win over Wisconsin, Ohio State fell behind midway through the third period when Lacey Eden scored, but the Buckeyes responded with goals from Hilda Svensson and Jordan Baxter scored two minutes apart later in the third period.
The other win by the Buckeyes came in early February when they won 4-1 in Madison, although both teams were missing key players because of the Winter Olympics.
If recent trends hold, Ohio State has a great chance of winning their third national championship in program history since the Buckeyes have won the last two NCAA Tournaments held in even years. In the last three title game matchups with Wisconsin, the two programs have alternated wins, with Wisconsin winning in 2023 and 2025.
No matter who wins, we are likely headed to another classic game between the two dominant programs in the country.
The battle between the Buckeyes and Badgers is scheduled to start at 4:00 p.m. ET and can be seen on ESPNU.
