Penn State managed just five shots in the game, three on net, to Ohio State's 12.
More importantly, Big Ten Offensive Player of the Year Tiffany Weimer was held to just one shot.
In the semifinal against Illinois on Friday, Weimer scored her 24th and 25th goals of the year and assisted on the game-winner in the 3-2 victory.
Yesterday, the Ohio State defense shut her down and ended her 13-game goal streak.
This was just two short of Brandi Chastain's NCAA record of 15.
"Every time I touched the ball, there were three or four [Buckeyes] around me," Weimer said.
"I guess I didn't come through, so it's disappointing."
While the offense struggled to make any kind of push into the Ohio State zone, Penn State's defense was pressured constantly.
Dickenmann scored 3:07 into the second half to put Penn State behind for only the third time all season.
In the 75th minute, Lions' defender Lindsay Bach was given a red card for taking down Lisa Grubb.
With a player down, Dickenmann scored her second of the day with less than seven minutes remaining to prevent any Penn State comeback.
Penn State's streak of 10 straight shutouts ended against Illinois, and its school-record unbeaten streak of 19 games met its end yesterday.
Heading into the Illinois game, goalkeeper Erin McLeod had gone 994:47 without allowing a goal, before giving up two in each of the last two games.
"We didn't have one lapse in the second half I don't think," McLeod said.
"It was mostly my fault. Our defense was pretty solid."
The loss was matched with some bittersweet news elsewhere in the world of women's college soccer.
Both No. 1 North Carolina and No. 2 Notre Dame lost in the their conference tournaments as well.
Those losses left the door open for Penn State to slip into the nation's top ranking.
Instead, Penn State could drop, but the fact that the top three teams lost could lessen the blow.
Today's selection show on ESPNews at 4:30 p.m. will determine who and where Penn State will be playing on Friday in the NCAA tournament. The Lions will almost certainly host the first round of the tournament.
As they lick their wounds for a week, the Lions will look to refocus their goals.
Wilkins said the loss ruins the Lions' perfect conference season "a little bit," but that it was good for her team to go through this kind of experience heading into the NCAA tournament.
"It's good for us because we haven't had the feeling of losing in a while," Wilkins said. "We can get back and rest up a little bit and refocus again. Now we need to get prepared for a whole different season."
