Ohio State
3-0
Marquette
1-3
Buckeyes Use Second Half Surge to Down Marquette, 18-11
2/20/2022 4:31:00 PM | Women's Lacrosse
COLUMBUS, Ohio – The Ohio State women's lacrosse team moved to 3-0 on the year, as it defeated Marquette, 18-11, Sunday inside Woody Hayes Athletic Center. The Buckeyes trailed 8-7 at halftime and 10-8 in the third quarter, but used a nine-goal run to pull away, outscoring the Golden Eagles (1-3) 11-3 over the final 40 minutes.
The Short Story
The Buckeyes scored the game's first two goals, but Marquette answered with four straight en route to a 6-5 lead after the first quarter. Each team scored twice in the second for an 8-7 Golden Eagle advantage at the half, with Marquette scoring first to push its lead to three (8-5) before two Buckeye goals in the final four minutes.
Marquette scored two of the first three goals in the second half for a 10-8 lead. Ohio State then took control, with what was eventually a nine-goal run. Ohio State scored four times in the final 6:25 of the third to tie the game and take the lead and then scored the first five goals of the fourth quarter, pushing the lead to 17-10 at 6:59. Each team scored once more for the 18-11 final. Ohio State outshot Marquette 40-27 and had the ground ball advantage, 20-12. Ohio State caused 11 Golden Eagle turnovers.
Jamie Lasda led the Buckeyes with five points, one of three Buckeyes with a hat trick, along with two assists. Clare Johnston had a team-high three assists and added a goal for a four-point outing. Nicole Ferrara had four points with three goals and an assist and Caly O'Brien also had a hat trick. Ali Beekhuizen and Jamie Level each had two goals and an assist and Lindsay Epstein scored twice. Chloe Johnson had seven draw controls and Epstein had six. Ava Keethler had three of the Buckeyes' 11 caused turnovers, with O'Brien and Epstein each forcing two. O'Brien and Jane Cowley led the squad with four ground balls each. In goal, Regan Alexander had seven saves.
Quoting head coach Amy Bokker
"Marquette is a tough, physical team and they came out hard. We expected nothing less, especially with one of our alums on the opposite sideline who knows a lot about our tendencies. I was really proud of our athletes and how hard they stuck to it. We made a couple of defensive adjustments throughout the game and they stuck with the plan and rode hard. We were able to have an excellent fourth quarter. You always want to finish a game well so I was really happy about that."
Up Next
Ohio State heads to Colorado next weekend for two games. The Buckeyes will face No. 15 Denver at 3 p.m. ET Friday and play at Colorado at 3 p.m. ET Sunday.
The Buckeyes will then return home to host No. 13 James Madison at 3 p.m. March 4, with the game expected to be played outdoors in Ohio Stadium. Admission is free to all Ohio State women's lacrosse regular season home games.
That home win, 3-0 feeling! #GoBucks pic.twitter.com/i5Is1lCfDp
— Ohio State Women's LAX (@OhioStateWLAX) February 20, 2022
How It Happened
After Ohio State scored the first two goals of the game, by Jamie Lasda at 14:21 and Janie Cowley four minutes later, Marquette went on a four-goal run for a 4-2 advantage at 4:30. Lasda made it a one-goal game less than a minute later but Marquette scored the next two for a 6-3 lead with 2:33 left in the opening quarter. Ohio State responded with two goals of its own, as Ali Beekhuizen scored at 1:04 and Jamie Level again made it a one-goal contest with a score with 10 seconds left in the first.
The Golden Eagles tallied the first two goals of the second quarter, at 13:22 and 6:56, but the Buckeyes shut them out the rest of the half, scoring twice in the final 3:44, for an 8-7 Marquette lead at halftime. Nicole Ferrara and Lasda found the back of the cage for the Buckeyes late in the second.
Marquette outshot the Buckeyes 9-8 in the first quarter, but Ohio State had the advantage in the second, 13-7. The Golden Eagles' goalie had six saves in the first half, including five in the second. The Golden Eagles also had the advantage in draw controls, 11-6, in the 30 minutes.
The Buckeyes tied the game at eight less than three minutes into the third quarter on a Lindsay Epstein goal. Marquette notched the next two, at 10:37 and 8:58 (free position) to take a 10-8 lead.
Ohio State then took control, going on a nine-goal run, with four goals in the final 6:25 of the third quarter. Caly O'Brien scored a woman-up free position goal and Beekhuizen tied the game at 5:31. Ferrara put the Buckeyes ahead for the first time since early in the first quarter at 3:15 and Clare Johnston extended Ohio State's lead to 12-10 with less than a minute remaining in the third. Ohio State outshot Marquette 11-5 in the third quarter. Buckeye goalie Regan Alexander made a stop on a free position shot in the final seconds of the quarter to keep it a two-goal game.
Lasda set up Epstein and Ferrara for goals in the first three minutes of the fourth quarter to push the Buckeye advantage to 14-10. O'Brien scored two of the next three goals, sandwiched around a score from Level. Marquette ended Ohio State's run with 5:18 remaining and Ohio State closed out the game with a goal from Bryce Pfundstein with three seconds remaining for the 18-11 final. The teams combined for just 14 shots in the fourth, with Ohio State ahead, 8-6. Alexander had three saves in the stanza.
Noting the Buckeyes
- Ohio State is averaging 17.67 goals per game this year, allowing 8.33 per contest.
- Jamie Lasda matched her career high with three goals (her second hat trick of the season) and added a career-high tying two assists for a personal-best five points on the day. She has three-plus points and multiple goals in each game this year.
- Nicole Ferrara had her fifth career game with three or more goals and her seventh game in the Scarlet and Gray with four or more points. She is on eight-game goal and point streaks (24g, 7a, 31p), with multiple goals in each game.
- Lindsay Epstein had a career-high six draw controls, along with two goals, three ground balls and two caused turnovers. It was her 12th career multiple-goal outing and seventh game with three ground balls. She has two goals in each of the first three games this season and has 15 goals, six assists and 21 points during a current eight-game point streak.
- Ali Beekhuizen has two goals in each game this season and added her first assist of the year for a three-point day. She is on a nine-game point streak (13g, 3a, 16p).
- Jamie Level had a second straight outing with two goals and three points, her fourth game as a Buckeye with multiple goals and her third three-point day.
- Clare Johnston matched her career high with three assists and had her sixth game with three-plus points.
- Chloe Johnson leads the Buckeyes with 28 draw controls this season after seven vs. the Golden Eagles.
- Ferrara and Lasda lead the Buckeyes with eight goals, four assists and 12 points each.
- Ava Keethler had a career-high three caused turnovers and two ground balls.
- Caly O'Brien had her third career hat trick and second of the year, matching her career best with four ground balls. She has six goals this season after posting four in her first 22 games in the Scarlet and Gray.
- Bryce Pfundstein, a junior transfer, had her first goal in the Scarlet and Gray and first collegiate tally since 2020.
- Ohio State is now 3-0 all-time vs. Marquette.
- Jillian Rizzo, a Buckeye from 2017-21 and the program's all-time saves leader, is now an assistant coach for the Golden Eagles.
