No. 25 Ohio State Looks to Bounce Back Against Iowa, Northwestern – Ohio State Buckeyes
10/6/2009 12:00:00 AM | Women's Soccer
COLUMBUS, Ohio – After dropping its first match since Aug. 30, the Ohio State women’s soccer team looks to rebound when it hosts Iowa at 7:30 p.m. Friday and Northwestern at noon Sunday at Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium.
Friday will be Buckeyes Go Pink night in support of breast cancer awareness and the Sunday game against the Wildcats will be broadcast live on the Big Ten Network.
SCOUTING THE HAWKEYES
Led by fourth-year head coach Ron Rainey, the Hawkeyes have posted an 8-4-0 record, 0-2-0 in the Big Ten, after dropping a 1-0 heartbreaker in the second overtime Sunday against Wisconsin. Junior forward Keli McLaughlin is tied for third in the Big Ten with seven goals.
Ohio State leads the all-time series with Iowa, 7-4-1 as the Buckeyes have won three of the last four matchups.
SCOUTING THE WILDCATS
The Wildcats have posted a 4-6-2 record, 1-1-1 in Big Ten play heading into the weekend. Senior forward Alicia Herczeg leads Northwestern with four goals. Stephanie Erickson is in her fourth year as head coach of the Wildcats.
The Buckeyes hold an 8-6-1 advantage over Northwestern in the all-time series but have dropped three of the last four games between the two schools.
11 AT HOME…AND ADMISSION IS FREE
The Buckeyes’ schedule includes four remaining matches at Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium. New for 2009: admission to all Ohio State home soccer matches is free to all.
THE COACHING STAFF
Ohio State is under the direction of 13th-year head coach Lori Walker. Walker has guided the team to four NCAA tournament berths (2002-03-04-07) as well as two Big Ten tournament championships (2002 and 2004). Greg Miller
is in his second season as associate head coach and ninth overall with the Buckeyes. The 2009 season marks the second season for assistant coach Glen Tourville.
TAKING THEIR SHOTS
Ohio State has outshot its opponents 186-70 overall and 74-23 on goal. The Buckeyes have been outshot in just one game this year, a scoreless tie at West Virginia. There also has been a huge disparity on corner kicks as the Buckeyes hold a 83-19 advantage over their opponents in that category.
SOLID START
After getting off to a slow start in 2008 (0-4-2), the Buckeyes have done just the opposite in 2009. The 8-2-1 start marks the second-best start in school history, just behind the 8-1-2 mark posted by the 2003 team. That team finished the season with a 13-5-3 record and advanced to the second round of the NCAA tournament.
GETTING DEFENSIVE
The Buckeyes sit in a tie for fifth in the NCAA in shutout percentage after posting clean sheets against eight of their first 11 opponents. Ohio State has trailed in fewer than 115 of 1,019 minutes played.
SHUTTING THEM DOWN
Goalkeeper Lauren “Taz” Robertson is tops in the Big Ten and 15th nationally with a 0.53 goals-against average. The senior co-captain and Ohio State career shutout leader with 25 has eight clean sheets in 11 games in 2009, just one
shy of the single-season school record.
Robertson has been named Big Ten Defensive Player of the Week twice in 2009 and seven times in her career.
TIME TO START OVER
The Buckeyes look to start a new streak as the first goal Penn State scored marked the first time an opponent had found the back of the net in 423 minutes against the Buckeye defense. The streak was the fourth-longest such streak in program history.
CONTINUING WHERE SHE LEFT OFF
Forward Paige Maxwell sits in a tie for seventh in the Big Ten with five goals in 2009. The sophomore notched her second career hat trick in Ohio State’s 6-0 win over Youngstown State. She is just the second Buckeye in history to record multiple hat tricks.
YOUNG GUN
Freshman forward Lauren Granberg ranks second on the team with four goals in the 2009 campaign including a pair against Youngstown State.
In all, freshmen or sophomores have accounted for 17 of the 22 Buckeye goals this season.
DISHING IT OUT
Junior Lauren Beachy sits in a tie for fourth in the Big Ten with four assists.
EVERYBODY’S INVOLVED
18 Buckeyes have recorded at least one point in 2009. Only the 2004 team has had more Buckeyes contribute offensively.
MOVING ON UP
The Buckeyes are ranked No. 25 in the Top 25 of the NSCAA/adidas rankings. It marks the fourth-consecutive week Ohio State has been ranked after the Buckeyes jumped all the way up to No. 15 last week.
The No. 15 ranking was the highest for the Buckeyes since Sept. 4, 2005.
AT HOME AT JESSE OWENS
Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium has proved to be a more than advantageous home for the Buckeyes in its 10 years of existence. Consider:
– The home team is 70-30-9 all-time.
– Ohio State is 51-13-7 since 2003 and 26-8-3 since 2006.
– The Buckeyes went 6-3-2 at home in 2008.
– So far this season, Ohio State is 5-1 at home.
UP NEXT: WISCONSIN, MINNESOTA
After the pair of games this weekend, the Buckeyes hit the road to take on Wisconsin Oct. 16 and Minnesota Oct. 18. The game against the Badgers kicks off at 8 p.m. ET and the matchup with the Gophers starts at 2 p.m. ET.
