She took over Ohio state's scarred hockey program. A title is 2 wins away.

Ohio State hired her two years ago to fix a scandal-riddled program that had never qualified for the NCAA playoffs and was seeking its third coach in three seasons. The Buckeyes needed more than a coach — they needed a healer.

“It was just a bunch of lost girls with no direction,” said Lauren Spring, a senior captain.

Muzerall provided that and much more. After a 14-18-5 debut season, she guided Ohio State this year to 24 victories, a record for the program, and its first NCAA tournament berth. The Buckeyes surprised Boston College, 2-0, in the quarterfinals to reach this weekend’s Frozen Four at Ridder.

Ohio State (24-10-4) is to face the defending national champion, Clarkson (34-4-1), in a national semifinal Friday afternoon; Wisconsin (31-4-2) faces Colgate (33-5-1) at night. The winners meet for the championship Sunday afternoon.

“I had a five-year contract, and in those five years I wanted to make it to the Frozen Four,” said Muzerall, 39. “I didn’t put a time capsule on what that would look like, but I would be lying if I didn’t say it happened sooner than I would have thought. I know myself personally, how high demands I have on myself and how I want things to the fullest right away. People were telling me, ‘You can’t have it all in one year.’ How about two?”

That seemed unlikely given the mess Muzerall inherited.

Nate Handrahan, the coach from 2011 to ’15, resigned under pressure when a university investigation confirmed allegations that he had sexually harassed players. Handrahan’s replacement, 1998 Olympic goal medalist Jenny Potter, was fired after one season for multiple NCAA violations. Ohio State Athletic Director Gene Smith reassigned the women’s hockey administrator, Shaun Richard. He put Diana Sabau, the executive associate athletic director, in charge and instructed her to find the next coach.

Sabau, who also oversees football, had no hockey contacts. So she searched the internet and called dozens of hockey people while assembling a list of candidates. Muzerall, a Canadian known as Muzz or Muzzy in the Minnesota hockey community, stood out as a winner who had paid her dues.

Her 139 goals as a Gopher remain the school record. Muzerall coached and taught at Northfield Mount Hermon School in Massachusetts from 2002 to ’09, then played briefly in Switzerland before returning to Minnesota in 2011 to join Frost’s staff.

Former Minnesota coach Laura Halldorson described Muzerall as a “spitfire” who thrived under pressure. The day before the 2000 national semifinals at Matthews Arena in Boston, Muzerall tripped at practice, banged her head on the ice and was taken off immobilized on a stretcher as a precaution. Cleared to play the next day, Muzerall scored twice as Minnesota ousted Minnesota Duluth, 3-2, in the semifinals. Then she added a goal and an assist in the 4-2 championship victory over Brown.

“She elevated the program, no question,” Halldorson said. “I say she’s a character, and I mean that in an endearing way. She’s got a big personality. She’s not afraid to speak her mind and tell it like it is. There was never an uninteresting day with Nadine Muzerall.”

Two Ohio State teammates, Spring and Jincy Dunne, were part of the coaching search committee that interviewed the finalists. Muzerall was struck by how weary they appeared.

“They looked sad, and they looked broken,” she said. “I was like, this is ridiculous. If you’re not having fun in college, when are you going to have fun? You have the rest of your life to be stressed out. You’re supposed to enjoy college and enjoy your hockey. I’m going to come in and try to make you a better hockey player, but I also want to make you a better person.”

Once hired, Muzerall asked for additional resources — a full-time operations director, which the program had never had, and occasional charter flights to get students back from games quickly. Practices were harder, with more structure and greater accountability. Muzerall also instituted biweekly individual meetings with players to discuss hockey and life issues. She wanted her players to know she cared about them.

“If I coached them four years ago, I probably would have been a different coach,” said Muzerall, who has two children. “But now being that I’m a mom, you have that tough love where I’m going to love you and take care of you and be loyal, but maybe I have to whip your butt a little bit from time to time.”

When the University of North Dakota dropped its women’s hockey program last year, Muzerall hired its associate head coach, Peter Elander, a skills specialist. Under his tutelage at North Dakota, Jocelyne Lamoureux-Davidson perfected the shootout move that won an Olympic gold medal for the United States last month.

The Buckeyes’ roster features seven Minnesotans and seven Canadians, a terrific goaltender in Kennedy Sauve (10 shutouts), and a strong freshman class led by Emma Maltais (16 goals, 40 points), the Western Collegiate Hockey Association Rookie of the Year.

Sweeping Wisconsin, then top-ranked, in a two-game series at home in early February helped the Buckeyes land an at-large NCAA Tournament bid. In the quarterfinals, Sauve made 23 of her 38 saves in the third period as the Buckeyes handed Boston College its only shutout of the season.

The gloom over the Buckeyes program has lifted, and Spring credits Muzerall.

“When you have three different coaches in a span of three years, each coach comes with different beliefs and philosophies,” Spring said. “For Coach to step in on that third time around and provide us with guidance and leadership, and the commitment to create a culture we can all thrive in and be successful, was extremely important for her. She’s been dedicated from Day 1, and I think it shows through us and what we’ve been able to do this year on the ice.”

Ohio State has the worst record among the Frozen Four participants, but Muzerall is as undaunted as she was when she took the Buckeyes job.

“As excited as we are to be here, and honored, we’re not going to be the ones that are sitting back as the fourth-ranked team out of four, bedazzled by all the lights and the press,” Muzerall said. “We’re here to win a tournament. We’re going to come in competitive, and come in ready to rock 'n' roll.”

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.