Women’s Soccer Opens Big Ten Slate at Northwestern – Ohio State Buckeyes
9/18/2002 12:00:00 AM | Women's Soccer
Sept. 18, 2002
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COLUMBUS, Ohio– The Ohio State Women’s soccer team (2-4, 0-0) heads to Evanston, Ill. to face the Northwestern Wildcats (2-2-1, 0-0) and commence the 2002 Big Ten conference schedule. The Buckeyes look to snap a three-game losing streak in conference openers. OSU last won such a match in 1998 over Purdue.
OHIO STATE IN BIG TEN ACTION
The Buckeyes have been an active competitor in Big Ten women’s soccer since 1993 and have amassed an overall conferece record of 28-57-4 (.337). The Buckeyes concluded the Big Ten regular season in 2001 with a five-game unbeaten streak with the only blemish coming in a scorless tie versus Wisconsin. During the string, OSU recorded victories at Illinois and Iowa, over Northwestern and Penn State. The Nittany Lions, at the time, had been ranked No. 4 in the nation.
ON THE ROAD IN BIG TEN ACTION
The Buckeyes have won their last three road contests in conference play over Purdue, Illinois and Indiana by a combined score of 7-2. Prior to the streak, Ohio State had totalled just four road wins in the Big Ten over their first seven seasons of existence.
OSU IN BIG TEN OPENERS
Ohio State owns an impressive 6-2-2 record in season opening matches, but has struggled historically in conference openers, dropping their last three and eight of nine overall. The Buckeyes will be searching for their first win in a Big Ten opener since topping Purdue in 1998 and their first-ever triumph in a conference opening match held away from Columbus. WALKER AT THE HELM
Now in her sixth season as head coach, Lori Walker has amassed a 52-49-5 record (.514) with OSU, including two 12-plus win campaigns. She is 17-27-3 (.394) in Big Ten play and stands 65-72-6 (.476) overall as a collegiate coach following a two-year stint at Kansas.
LAST WEEK’S ACTION
Ohio State split their two matches in the 2002 home opening series. The Buckeyes dropped a 3-1 decision to Missouri on Friday night despite outshooting the Tigers by a 15-6 count. Ohio State Senior defender Jen Miller recorded the lone Buckeye goal of the match on a penalty kick in the 77th minute.
OSU rebounded on Sunday to claim a 1-0 victory from the University of Pittsburgh. The Buckeyes once again outshot its oppenent, this time doubling-up the Panthers by a 22-11 figure. Buckeye sophomore forward Lisa Grubb netted the only goal of the match in the 21st minute. Freshman forward Colleen Hoban assisted on the scoring play as she advanced the ball up the middle of the Panther zone before dishing to Grubb.
Senior defender Shelley Besson saved the game for the Buckeyes on Sunday as she denied Pittsburgh scoring chances on two consecutive occassions. She twice rejected Panthers shots on goal late in the second half.
SCOUTING NORTHWESTERN
The Wildcats took a 1-0 lead into halftime versus No. 19 Kentucky on Sunday, but could not hold on as they fell 2-1. Northwestern has been on each side of four shutout games prior to the Kentucky match, winning their first match of the season 2-0 over Depaul, playing to a scoreless tie with Utah, losing 5-0 to BYU and rebounding to take a 4-0 decision from Louisville.
Northwestern is lead by second-year head coach Jenny Haigh. Haigh, a Wisconsin grad, has recorded a 10-12-2 mark during her time in Evanston.
Spearheading the Wildcat offensive attack is sophomore forward Ashleigh Garmon. Garmon currently leads NU with three goals and eight points.
OHIO STATE VS. NORTHWESTERN
Home field advantage takes precedence between the two schools as the home team has won each of the eight meetings between the two programs. Ohio State owns 5-3 all-time advantage over the Wildcats and has won three of the last four meetings. Record-setter
Senior forward Lindsay Eckles tied the school record for career shot attempts in last Sunday’s 1-0 victory over Pittsburgh. She contributed five shots to an offense that tallied a season-high 22 strikes in the shutout victory.
Eckles, who missed parts of the 2002 season with a knee injury, now stands along with former Buckeye forward Lisa Suttmiller (1994-97) at the top of the OSU career charts in shots. Eckles entered the 2002 season with 188 career shots and now looks to pass Suttmiller this Sunday in the Big Ten opener at Northwestern.
A SHOOTOUT
Ohio State was very busy on the offensive side during the 2002 Ohio State Tournament as they out shot their opponents by a 37-18 margin. Although OSU was only able to convert two of those opportunities into scores, the Buckeyes gained a split in the weekend tournament.
For the season, Ohio State has tallied 21more shots and nearly twice as many shots on goal as their opponents, 49-25. The Buckeyes are averaging 14.3 shots per game compared to their counterparts at 8.5.
A TALL ORDER TO OPEN THE SEASON
OSU has five nationally ranked opponents in the NSCAA and SoccerBuzz preseason polls slated for the 2002 schedule. The Buckeyes dropped their first two contests to nationally-ranked California and St. Mary’s (Calif.) in the season opening tournament at Berkeley, California on August 30th and September 1st.
The Buckeyes faired well against the nation’s elite during the 2001 season, collecting a 2-2 record that featured wins at No. 9 Connecticut and over No. 4 Penn State. In addition, OSU pushed top-ranked North Carolina last November as the Tarheels escaped Columbus with a tightly contested 2-0 victory. The Buckeyes ended their season with a 2-0 loss to Penn State in the Big Ten Tourney semi-final.
MAKING THE GRADE
The Buckeyes epitomized the term “student-athlete” in 2001 as 12 individuals on the team earned OSU Scholar-Athlete status, included were five members who acheived Academic All-Big Ten honors. Stacia Daum, current seniors Shelly Besson, Lindsay Eckles, Kiley Enmark and Jen Miller were recognized by Big Ten officials for there academic efforts.
SOPHOMORE SENSATION
Sophomore forward Lisa Grubb made quite a first impression on Buckeye fans in her initial season sporting the scarlet and gray. Grubb, a Portage, Mich native, lead OSU in all major offensive categories netting 25points on 10 goals and five assists, including three game-winners. Her efforts merited the Big Ten Freshman of the Year award as she finished among the top six leading scorers in the conference.Grubb tied for second in shots (62) among the conference ranks, fifth in goals (10) and tied for fifth in gamewinning goals (three), while her 25 points tied her for fifth in the Big Ten.
RECORDS SET TO FALL
A handful of career records are in jeopardy of falling in the 2002 season as senior Lindsay Eckles, who is currently tied for most shot attempts in school history, eyes the top spot for career goals as well. Eckles, a Hilliard, Ohio native, needs just four goals to take over the top spot from Lisa Suttmiller (1994-97), who finished her Buckeye career with 30 goals. In addition, Eckles is just eight points shy of overtaking second place on the all-time points list.
Sophomore Lisa Grubb will also be knocking on the door of the top spots in the record books very soon. Following just one season with OSU, Grubb is already ranked as the eighth all-time career scorer and is currently slotted in the seventh position in school history in career goals.
Jen Miller also has a shot to climb up the OSU charts in career assists. She is currently tied for fifth all-time with 10 career marks and needs seven this season to take over as second in assists in Buckeye history.
NEXT UP
Ohio State will kick off its 2002 Big Ten home schedule versus Purdue and Indiana at Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium on September 27th and 29th. The Buckeyes will do battle with the Boilermakers Friday night and will take on the Hoosiers Sunday afternoon.
