Ohio State
7-4, 1-1B1G
Penn State
5-4, 0-1B1G
Late Goals Lift Buckeyes to Win over Penn State
3/26/2022 6:48:00 PM | Women's Lacrosse
COLUMBUS, Ohio – In a game that had six lead changes and five ties, the Ohio State women's lacrosse team ended as the victor against visiting Penn State, notching a 12-11 win Saturday in Ohio Stadium. Sophie Baez led the Ohio State squad with five assists and seven points, including helpers on the final two goals, Nicole Ferrara had a five-point day and Regan Alexander made 10 saves in the Buckeye cage.
The Buckeyes led 9-5 at halftime but PSU notched the first four goals of the third quarter to tie the score at nine. Ohio State regained the lead 10-9, but a late third quarter PSU score sent the teams into the fourth quarter deadlocked at 10. Penn State again went ahead, 11-10, with 11:44 left. Ohio State shut out the Nittany Lions the rest of the way, tying the game at 5:43 and netting the gamewinner at 2:53.
The Buckeyes improve to 7-4 on the year and are 1-1 in the Big Ten. The Nittany Lions fall to 5-4 and 0-1 in the B1G.
That winning feeling
12, 11#GoBucks pic.twitter.com/8drr0gC1ez
— Ohio State Women's LAX (@OhioStateWLAX) March 26, 2022
The Short Story
Ohio State scored the game's first goal but Penn State went ahead 2-1 at 6:30. The Buckeyes then netted the next three, with two before the end of the first quarter, to tie the game and take the lead. The teams traded goals early in the second quarter before the Buckeyes went on a four-goal run to lead 8-3 with 4:46 left in the first half. Penn State tallied two of the final three goals of the half, sending the teams to halftime with Ohio State ahead, 9-5.
With four straight goals to start the second half, Penn State tied the game at nine with 5:44 left in the third quarter. Each team scored once more in the third for a 10-10 game heading into the final stanza.
Penn State again went ahead with a goal at 11:44. But the Buckeyes battled to the win, keeping the Nittany Lions off the scoreboard the rest of the game. Sophie Baez set up Lindsay Epstein at 5:43 to tie the contest and then found Jamie Lasda for the gamewinner with 2:53 left. Goalie Regan Alexander made eight of her 10 saves in the second half, including five in the third quarter.
Baez led the Buckeyes with five assists and seven points and Chloe Johnson had a hat trick and five draw controls. Nicole Ferrara had a five-point day, with two goals and three assists. Epstein scored twice, picked up four ground balls and had seven draw controls, along with two caused turnovers. Lasda also scored twice for Ohio State.
Fourth. Quarter. Game. Winner. #GoBucks pic.twitter.com/xukveftAKK
— Ohio State Women's LAX (@OhioStateWLAX) March 27, 2022
Up Next
Ohio State will be on the road for its next two games, starting with a nonconference matchup at Louisville at 7 p.m. Thursday, with the game on ACC Network. The Buckeyes will return to Big Ten play with a 7:30 p.m. game on BTN at Michigan April 8.
How it Happened
- The Buckeyes opened the scoring at 9:59 on a goal from Jamie Lasda, assisted by Ferrara, but Penn State scored the next two, at 9:17 and 6:30, for a 2-1 lead.
- Jamie Level set up Sophie Baez for a player-down goal at 2:59 and Ferrara found Chloe Johnson in front at 1:35, moving the Buckeyes back ahead. Ohio State carried a 3-2 lead into the first quarter break.
- The teams traded goals at 13:42 (Ferrara from Baez for Ohio State) and 8:49 of the second for a 4-3 game.
- Ohio State then went on a four-goal run to push ahead, 8-3. Ali Beekhuizen and Baez scored back-to-back free position goals at 7:7 and 6:28.
- Johnson followed with two straight of her own, set up by Baez at 5:35 and Ferrara at 4:46.
- Penn State scored two of the final three goals in the quarter for a 9-5 Buckeye lead at the half. Lindsay Epstein had the last tally of the first half for the Buckeyes.
- The Nittany Lions scored the first four goals of the second half, part of a five-goal run, to tie the game at nine with 5:44 left in the third quarter.
- Ferrara scored a player-up goal at 2:42, assisted by Baez, to stop the Nittany Lion run, but PSU tallied once more with 15 seconds left in the third for a 10-all game after 45 minutes.
- Penn State's Taylor Regan put the Nittany Lions ahead against at 11:44, 11-10. That would be the last PSU goal of the game.
- The Buckeyes scored twice in the final 5:43, with the goals in less than two minutes, to tie the game and regain the lead. Baez set up both tallies – from Epstein with the Buckeyes a player down at 5:43 and the gamewinner from Lasda at 2:53.
- Buckeye goalie Regan Alexander had 10 saves in the game, including eight in the second half – five in the third quarter and three in the fourth.
- The Buckeyes had the edge in draw controls, 14-13. Epstein had seven, with Johnson recording five.
- Penn State had a slight advantage in ground balls, 18-15, and Ohio State had 16 turnovers, with Penn State turning the ball over 12 times. Epstein led the Buckeyes with four ground balls and Level had three, with Ava Keethler picking up two. Epstein had two of the Buckeyes' seven caused turnovers.
Noting the Buckeyes
- Baez had seven points, one shy of the career-best eight she had against Niagara March 3, 2019. The five assists were a career high, passing the three she had in that game vs. Niagara. She entered the game with three assists in her first 10 games this year.
- Ferrara moved her point streak to 16; she has 36 goals, 17 assists and 43 points during her scoring streak. It was her third career five-point game and one short of the six-point outing she had vs. Northwestern last season. It was her first career game with three assists and her eighth career multiple-assist outing. She is first on the team with 14 assists and second with 20 goals and 34 points.
- Johnson had a hat trick for the first time since Feb. 15, 2020 at Stony Brook and marked her sixth game with three points. She moved her program record for single-season draw controls to 89 and remains in third place in the career record book with 174.
- Lasda leads the Buckeyes with 30 goals and 37 points and moved her point streak to 12 games, with 31 goals and 38 points in the stretch.
- Epstein's seven draw controls were a career best, passing the six she had earlier this year vs. Marquette, and she also had a career high with four ground balls. She is third on the team with 18 goals and 24 points.
- Ohio State is 5-1 at home this season.
