Anchorage native Clair DeGeorge nets goal as Ohio State women win 1st Frozen Four title

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. — Kenzie Hauswirth broke a tie with 6:20 left and top-seeded Ohio State beat Minnesota Duluth 3-2 on Sunday for the Buckeyes’ first women’s Frozen Four championship.

Hauswirth blasted a shot from the left side that deflected off a defender’s skate and slipped inside the far post.

Anchorage native Clair DeGeorge and Paetyn Levis also scored for Ohio State (32-6-0) and Amanda Thiele made 17 saves. The Buckeyes won their last 10 games and 11 of 12, setting a program record for victories in a season.

Anchorage native and former Team USA player Zoe Hickel also earned a championship as an assistant coach for the Buckeyes.

Naomi Rogge and Elizabeth Giguere scored for Minnesota Duluth.

Minnesota Duluth (27-12-1), which split four regular-season meetings with the Buckeyes, made its first appearance in the championship game since 2010, when the Bulldogs won the last of their five titles — all in a 10-year span.

Levis took advantage of a giveaway — and then a discombobulated defense — to poke home a power-play goal about four minutes into the second period to give Ohio State a 1-0 lead.

Rogge answered with a goal from in front of the net for the Bulldogs at 7:18 of the second, redirecting a shot that trickled through the crease and across the line.

Degeorge, after Duluth goaltender Emma Soderberg left the net and then lost her balance as she challenged a shot by Levis, slipped a wrist shot past one defender and through the legs of another into the net to give the Buckeyes a 2-1 lead 24 seconds into the third period.

Anna Klein stole the puck from Ohio State’s Madison Bizal and fed Giguere, who calmly flicked a wrister glove-side high in the one-hole to even the score 1:13 seconds later.