Buckeyes Explode for Seven Goals in Big Ten-Opening Win over Illinois

Sept. 14, 2017

COLUMBUS, Ohio – The Ohio State women’s soccer team opened Big Ten play in record fashion, picking up a 7-0 victory over Illinois Thursday night at Bert L. & Iris S. Wolstein Field at Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium. The seven Buckeye goals marked the most in a Big Ten game in program history and tied for the fourth-most in any contest.

With the win, the Buckeyes improve to 6-1-1 overall, 1-0-0 in the Big Ten, while the Illini drop to 3-6-0, 0-1-0 in conference play.

“Losing at home last Sunday contributed to a laser focus the last few days,” Lori Walker-Hock, Ohio State head coach, said. “We took some extra rest this week, recovered, and I love my team’s response to their first loss of the year. The team came out and was just clinical on the ball.”

ROBERTS PUTS BUCKEYES ON TOP EARLY
Less than three minutes in, Sarah Roberts scored her second goal of the year to give the Buckeyes the 1-0 lead. Sammy Edwards centered a pass to Nikki Walts, who played a through ball to Roberts on the right wing, where she was clinical with her finish from 12 yards just inside the left post.

ROBERTS DOUBLE THE TROUBLE FOR THE ILLINI
Just more than 10 minutes later, Izzy Rodriguez found space on the left wing and played a low cross from the end line to a wide-open Roberts, who placed her left-footed strike from eight yards past Illinois goalkeeper Jaelyn Cunningham for the 2-0 Ohio State advantage.

KAMMERDEINER CLOSE TO MAKING IT 3-0
In the 20th minute, Morgan Wolcott found Meghan Kammerdeiner with a long ball but the strike from the top of the box by the Buckeye sophomore drilled the top-right corner of the crossbar and was cleared away.

GABRIEL MAKES IT A THREE-GOAL GAME
Four minutes later, Roberts played a long ball from midfield toward Eleanor Gabriel at the top-left-corner of the box. The senior took a touch past Cunningham and finished from 10 yards on the left wing into an empty net to push the lead to 3-0.

BOWERS NETS HER FIRST-CAREER GOAL
With less than five minutes remaining, a loose ball fell to Riley Bowers at the center of the field, the freshman took a dribble and rocketed a left-footed strike from 25 yards into the top-right corner to make it 4-0 heading into the half.

MOUSSET SCORES THE FIRST OF HER CAREER
In the 54th minute, Walts found Marike Mousset at the top-right corner of the box and Mousset placed a left-footed shot from 15 yards past Cunningham and inside the left post to extend the Buckeye advantage to 5-0.

HOLDEN CORNER LEADS TO EDWARDS’ 20TH AS A BUCKEYE
The lead swelled to 6-0 in the 68th minute when Arden Holden played a corner from the right wing that was flicked on by Izzy Rodriguez and Edwards was there to finish from six yards past Cunningham for her 20th career goal.

BOWERS’ SECOND OF THE NIGHT CAPS THE SCORING
In the 83rd minute, Maddy Lowe laid a pass off to Bowers, who ripped another beautiful strike from 30 yards out inside the top-left corner for her second goal of the night to cap the scoring at 7-0.

RECORD SCORING NIGHT FOR THE BUCKEYES
The seven goals were the most by Ohio State in a Big Ten game and tied for the fourth-most in any contest in program history. The highest-scoring outputs in Ohio State women’s soccer history:

14 vs. Robert Morris (10/12/95)
9 at Valparaiso (11/2/96)
8 vs. Xavier (9/2/04)
7 vs. Youngstown State (9/21/03)
7 vs. Illinois (9/14/17)

STATISTICALLY SPEAKING
Shots: Ohio State 17, Illinois 6
Saves: Illinois 4, Ohio State 2
Shots on Goal: Ohio State 11, Illinois 2
Corner Kicks: Ohio State 6, Illinois 1

BUCKEYE BITS
– The goal by Riley Bowers and the goal by Marike Mousset each marked the first of their career.
– The four-goal first half for the Buckeyes was the most in a first half since Ohio State scored four times in the first half of a 6-2 season-opening win over Illinois State Aug. 21, 2015.
– With two assists, Nikki Walts moved into a tie for sixth on the Buckeyes’ career assist list with 18.
– Sammy Edwards’ goal moved her into a tie for 14th on the Ohio State career goals list with 20.
– Brianna Gazmarian saw her first game time in an Ohio State uniform.

UP NEXT
The Buckeyes concludes its seven-match homestand against Northwestern at 1 p.m. Sunday. The match will be televised live on ESPNU.

Match: Illinois at Ohio State
Date: Sept. 14, 2017
Venue: Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium – Columbus, Ohio
Kickoff: 7 p.m.
Attendance: 494
Weather: Mostly cloudy and 67 degrees