Ohio State
Florida International
No. 23 Buckeyes Defeat FIU, 3-1, In Home Opener – Ohio State Buckeyes
9/2/2011 12:00:00 AM | Men's Soccer
Sept. 2, 2011
COLUMBUS, Ohio – The No. 23 Ohio State men’s soccer team opened its home schedule with a 3-1 victory over Florida International Friday in game two of the sixth annual Bert and Iris Wolstein Classic at Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium. Both teams now hold records of 1-1-1 on the early season.
Parnell Hegngi and Sebastian Rivas each tallied their first career goal vs. the Golden Panthers, while David Tiemstra also found the back of the net to start the team’s comeback.
“I was extremely proud of the guys tonight,” John Bluem, Ohio State head coach, said. “They worked so hard to make sure we won this game. We had some self doubting going on after the first weekend at State College when we didn’t play up to our potential. I think the team you saw tonight is more characteristic of the team were going to be this year.”
The Buckeyes trailed 1-0 early in the contest after Jahbari Willis scored FIU’s only point at the 23:30 mark of the first half. Willis weaved his way through the Ohio State defense before connecting on a strike that snuck past goalkeeper Matt Lampson.
The Scarlet and Gray quickly responded, however, with three unanswered goals of their own. Rivas, a junior from Duarte, Calif., entered the game late in the 34th minute and less than a minute later tied the game at the 34:40 mark in the opening stanza. Adam Gorski started the play with a long throw-in, which Ben Killian centered in the box for Rivas who was able to head it in for the equalizer.
“I came into the game and Gorksi had a long throw in,” Rivas recalled after the game. “The goalie kind of punched it out, and the ball went out to Ben and Ben had a great cross right across the back. I just kind of flung it across the back with my head and it went in.”
The Buckeyes would take over the lead just under six minutes later when Hegngi put the Buckeyes in control after finding the net right before the half when FIU goalkeeper Eric Reyes came off his line at 40:33. Brady Wahl played the ball into Hegngi near the top of the penalty area and the senior forward took advantage of the keeper’s miscue to send a low shot into the right corner for the lead.
The Panthers picked up some momentum in the second half, firing off several shots over the first 20 minutes out of the intermission. Lampson made a pair of stops to keep the Buckeyes in the game, however, and they were able to add an insurance goal down the stretch to eventually cement the win. Tiemstra added Ohio State’s final tally of the night early in the 82nd minute with the help of an Austin McAnena assist.
Ohio State had a slight edge in the shot count, 16-13, though FIU produced an 8-4 corner kick advantage. For the season, seven Buckeye players have tallied at least one point with Tiemstra leading the way with three points after producing an assist in the team’s draw with American last weekend.
Ohio State will continue action in the Wolstein Classic Sunday at 1:30 at Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium when they face Stetson, who knocked off Penn State, 3-2, earlier in Friday evening.
“I thought they were a very good team, a very fluid team tonight vs. Penn State.,” Bluem said of the Hatters. “They attack very well and it’s going to be a very interesting game … The guys have to recover first of all and rest up as much as they can and get back here ready to go. We’ll see how well we can do.”
The Nittany Lions and FIU meet at 11 a.m. Sunday.
