The No. 4 University of Minnesota Duluth fought off an outbreak of flu in addition to No. 2 OhiO State University Saturday afternoon, and despite a worthy attempt to upset the Buckeyes, the Bulldogs fell 2-1 at AMSOIL Arena in Duluth, Minn.

Eight players in all had fallen ill for UMD in the past three days, including two players that could not play Saturday on short notice and one that left the game due to symptoms. In all, UMD made no excuses for its effort on the weekend, but by the end of the third period, the Bulldogs were down to just 13 skaters – including only four defensemen.

"Our whole staff is so, so proud of our players," said head coach Laura Schuler. "Obviously not the outcome that we wanted, but our players bought in 100% to what we wanted to do, the adjustments we wanted to make from yesterday to today. Obviously we had a shortage – we had a lot of kids out who have been sick, and you know, now injured in today's game as well. So for everybody to just kind of step up and give everything they had, and again that by end was just tremendous. I was just so proud."

Like Friday night the Buckeyes struck first, almost against the grain of play, at 2:31 of the first period. But unlike the night before, UMD had an answer for it.

After coming up empty on a five minute power play after OSU cross-checked Hanna Baskin in the middle of the frame, UMD made good on its second power play attempt of the day at 18:57 of the period. Clara Van Wieren skated across the blueline and slid the puck over at the top of the left circle to Olivia Wallin, who absolutely unloaded a nasty wrist shot for her tenth goal of the season. More importantly, it pulled the Bulldogs even with the Buckeyes and sent the two sides into the opening intermission knotted up.

OSU's game-winning goal came late in the second period, a frame that the Bulldogs had to fight shorthanded for nine minutes of. UMD, already down two defenseman to illness and Baskin to injury, lost Olvia Mobley at 9:21 for good when her penalty, eerily similar to the Buckeyes five minute major in the first, became game misconduct. Despite 31 saves from Eve Gascon in the period, Makenna Webster broke through for what ended up the final 2-1 score at 16:44.

Gascon was once again incredible in goal, making 44 saves on 46 shots, including 19 shots that came on OSU's power play. For the weekend, Gascon wrapped up the series with a whopping 102 stops – the most back-to-back game saves for a Bulldog goaltender since Maddie Rooney had 112 in the Western Collegiate Hockey Association's Final Face-Off in 2017. The Buckeyes outshot UMD 46-14 – the second period and the power play shots the heavy difference between the sides. Amanda Thiele had 13 saves for OSU, now 17-5-3 and 12-5-3 in league play.

The Bulldogs (15-7-2, 10-6-2) will have a short time to try and get healthy – UMD heads to Mendota Heights, Minn. for a Thursday-Friday series against the University of St. Thomas that gets underway Thursday at 7:00 p.m.

BULLDOG NOTES: Eve Gascon's 102 save weekend is the first 100+ save weekend since Maddie Rooney had a program-record 62 stops against the University of Minnesota in the WCHA Final Face-Off on March 4, 2017… Rooney helped UMD to a 2-1 double overtime win before making another 50 saves against the University of Wisconsin on March 5, 2017 in the championship game … UMD ends its regular season against OSU with a 2-2 record … both teams scored eight goals a piece in all … Caitlin Kraemer led UMD with four points (2g, 2a) in the four regular season games.