Ohio State advances to the women's ice hockey championship game for the third straight season

DURHAM, N.H. — Sloane Matthews scored a go-ahead goal with 6:48 left to play and top seed Ohio State advanced to the title game of the women's ice hockey championship for the third straight season after defeating No. 4 seed Clarkson 4-1 on Friday in the Frozen Four.

Matthews, Joy Dunne and Hadley Hartmetz all scored in the third period for Ohio State. Matthews slid in a loose puck in front of the net to break a 1-all tie. Dunne, the Julie Chu rookie of the year recipient, scored her 23rd goal of the season and Hartmetz followed with an empty-netter.

Ohio State (34-4-0), which is in the Frozen Four for the fourth straight season, seeks its second national championship in program history on Sunday — after winning in 2022.

Clarkson (33-5-2), which scored on a power play in the fourth overtime to beat Minnesota 3-2 in a regional final, was looking to advance to its first national title game since winning it in 2018.

Clarkson opened the scoring less than three minutes into the game when Anne Cherkowski took a pass from captain Brooke McQuigge and spun in front of the net for a shot past Raygan Kirk.

Makenna Webster tied it at 1-all with 6:07 left to play in the first when she drove to the net all alone, following a turnover, and put it past Michelle Pasiechnyk.