Buckeyes Top No. 9 Wolverines, 15-12
2/21/2021 6:31:06 PM | Women's Lacrosse
COLUMBUS, Ohio – The Ohio State women’s lacrosse team defeated No. 9 Michigan, 15-12, Sunday inside Woody Hayes Athletic Center. Ohio State evens its record at 1-1 overall and in the Big Ten, while the game opened Michigan’s season.
Ohio State led from the eight minute mark of the game, with a 9-7 lead at halftime. Michigan made it a one-goal contest (11-10) at 22:33 of the second half but Ohio State scored the next three for a 14-10 advantage with 19:22 left and held the Wolverines to just two goals the rest of the way, with Jillian Rizzo making five saves in the stretch, for the victory.
Liza Hernandez had a team-high six goals and seven points, along with 10 draw controls. Rizzo ended the day with 13 saves for Ohio State, her 41st game with double-digit stops. Lindsay Epstein notched a hat trick and Kelsey Reed posted four points on two goals and two assists for the Buckeyes, along with six draw controls and two caused turnovers.
Ohio State will travel for two Big Ten games at Rutgers next weekend. The teams will meet at 3 p.m. Friday and at noon Sunday in Piscataway, N.J.
Quoting head coach Amy Bokker
“I’m just so proud of the team for their effort and the discipline they showed all over the field. After a tough weekend we really reset ourselves. We worked together in our preparation for a great team win. There’s a lot of season left so we want to continue to build.”
Buckeyes vs. Wolverines
The Buckeyes opened the scoring at 25:21 on a goal by Hernandez and Michigan answered at 22:52. Ohio State responded with a three goal run – with tallies at 22:00 (Epstein), 16:20 (Hernandez) and 15:28 (Epstein) – and led the rest of the way. Michigan stopped the Buckeye run with a goal at 14:41 but Hernandez completed her hat trick with a free position goal at 14:01, followed by tallies from Jamie Level and Chloe Johnson for a 7-2 advantage. The Wolverines scored five of the next seven goals to make it a two-goal game at halftime (9-7). Kelsey Reed and Hernandez had the Ohio State tallies late in the first half.
Reed scored less than three minutes into the second half to push Ohio State’s advantage to three. The teams traded goals, with Epstein scoring for the Buckeyes set up by Hernandez, and then back-to-back Wolverine tallies made it a one-goal game at 22:33 (11-10), the first time the lead was one since early in the first half. Ashley Turner opened a stretch of three straight Buckeye goals in just over two minutes, with Hernandez and Level also scoring, to put Ohio State up 14-10 at 17:29. Ohio State held Michigan scoreless from 22:33 until the 3:03 mark to help secure out the win, helped by five saves from Rizzo in the stretch. Hernandez gave the Buckeyes a four-goal cushion at 9:31 and UM scored one final goal at 3:03.
Each team had 32 shots in the game. Rizzo made 13 saves for the Buckeyes and two Wolverine goalies combined for nine stops.
The Buckeyes won 22 of 29 draw controls. Hernandez had 10, while Reed had six and freshman Jamie Lasda had four.
Noting the Buckeyes
- Hernandez tied her career high with six goals, first set Feb. 10, 2019 vs. Detroit Mercy. It was her third career game with seven or more points; she had seven points March 3, 2019 vs. Niagara and 10 in the win over Detroit Mercy in 2019. Her 10 draw controls were also a career best, passing the eight she had vs. Marquette in 2020.
- Epstein had her first career hat trick after six two-goal games.
- With two goals and two assists, Reed had her third collegiate four-point game after two at James Madison. The two assists were a career best, as were her six draw controls.
- Lasda’s assist was her first career point.
- Level had her first two-goal game as a Buckeye.
