Women’s club hockey falls to Ohio State 10-3 Saturday

A goal scored in each period was not nearly enough for the women’s club hockey team to beat Ohio State Saturday at the Mount Pleasant Ice Arena.

Central Michigan lost its fifth game of the season 10-3 to the Buckeyes.

Senior Jaimee Cronk responded after OSU scored the first goal of the game, tying it at one with 15:46 to go in the first period.

“My left winger took it behind the net,” Cronk said, “and passed it to me and I scored.”

But CMU could not hold on much longer with the Buckeyes knocking the rust off as a result of playing their first game of the season.

Ohio State’s Amanda Boskovich lifted the puck into the top shelf from a couple feet out to retake the lead with 13:25 left in the first period.

The Buckeyes scored three more goals in the next five minutes to make it 5-1 by the end of the first period.

CMU has yet to win, but club president Hannah Deacon sees improvement despite the loss by a large margin.

“I think we played a lot better,” Deacon. “We got a lot of practice down, so that helped us.”

Goalkeeper Amanda Steffey, still adjusting to moving from center this season, was impressive, Deacon said.

“She played great today,” Deacon said. “She’s doing her butterfly, falling to the puck; everything’s great.”

Steffey stopped 21 Ohio State shots.  The play that showed her improved skills, among others, was a diving save in the middle of the second period.

Goaltending coach Colin Beck has been working on Steffey’s game.  Her only experience guarding the net, before this season, was when she was 10-years-old, playing in a youth league, he said.

Beck said he has taught her about positioning more than anything.

“She’s making huge improvements,” he said. “She’s probably 10-times better than she was the first time I skated with her.”

CMU had nine shots for the game, scoring on the first shot of every period.

Deacon scored her first goal of the season off a rebound, taking advantage of the power play to decrease Ohio State’s lead to 6-2 in the second period.

After the CMU offense made it 7-3 in the third period, the Buckeyes added three goals in the last 11 minutes of the game.

The women’s team will look for its first wins of the season at Robert Morris Friday and Saturday.