Buckeyes Face No. 14 Wolverines Friday Night
4/7/2022 12:19:41 PM | Women's Lacrosse
COLUMBUS, Ohio – The Ohio State women’s lacrosse team is back to Big Ten play, taking on No. 14 Michigan Friday night in Ann Arbor, Mich. The teams will meet at 7:30 p.m. at U-M Lacrosse Stadium, with BTN televising the game. The contest will also be available on the Fox Sports app. Dean Linke and Caley Chelios will call the action.
Ohio State (8-4, 1-1 B1G) at No. 14 Michigan (9-5, 1-2 B1G): BTN | Fox Sports app | Live Scoring
Buckeyes vs. Wolverines
- The Buckeyes lead the all-times series with Michigan, 6-3, including two victories last season.
- Last year, Ohio State won 15-12 in Columbus Feb. 21, 2021, and posted a 12-9 victory in Ann Arbor April 16, 2021.
- Michigan is 9-4 on the year and 1-2 in Big Ten play, with a 9-7 road win over Johns Hopkins, home loss to Northwestern, 12-9, and road loss at Rutgers, 13-8. The squad hosted USC in a nonconference game last weekend, falling 14-10.
- The Wolverines are fifth nationally in scoring defense, allowing 8.62 goals per game, and are scoring 12.85 goals per outing.
- Kaley Thompson has a team-best 26 goals and shares the team point lead with Caitlin Muir, who leads the Wolverines with 13 assists, with 27 points each. Kaitlyn Mead is first on the squad with 49 draw controls and goalie Arielle Weissman, who has played in all 13 games, has a program-best 28 ground balls. She is 12th in the NCAA with a .508 save percentage.
Buckeyes vs. Wolverines in 2021
- The first game was Feb. 21, 2021 inside Woody Hayes Athletic Center in Columbus, with Ohio State winning 15-12.
- Ohio State led from the eight minute mark of the game, with a 9-7 advantage 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 game-high six goals, seven points and 10 draw controls. Rizzo had 13 saves and Lindsay Epstein scored three goals, with Kelsey Reed posting four points on two goals and two assists.
- Game two was April 16, 2021 in Ann Arbor, Mich., where the Buckeyes won 12-9.
- After the teams traded early goals. Ohio State went ahead 2-1 at 19:40 but back-to-back Wolverine tallies at 13:10 and 12:26 put Michigan in front 3-2. Ohio State answered with a four-goal run, including two Lindsay Epstein goals, and shut out the Wolverines the rest of the half for a 6-3 halftime lead.
- Michigan scored the first five goals of the second half to lead 8-6 with 15:54 remaining. Buckeyes Nicole Ferrara and Liza Hernandez tallied at 14:46 and 12:14 to tie the game at eight. Michigan went ahead one more time, 9-8, with 11:16 left. The Buckeyes notched their second four-goal run of the game to tie the game, take the lead and close out the win. Jamie Level tied the game at nine 59 seconds after UM had taken the lead, Hernandez followed with two straight goals at 6:14 and 4:25 and Level notched the game’s final goal at 3:48. Jillian Rizzo had three of her seven second-half saves in the final 3:02.
- Against the Wolverines, Hernandez led Ohio State with four goals and Level had a hat trick, while Ferrara and Epstein each had two tallies. Chloe Johnson had five of the Buckeyes’ 13 draw controls and Caly O’Brien had a goal, three ground balls and three caused turnovers. Rizzo had eight saves in the win.
Buckeye This and That
A look back at the last two games ….
- The Buckeyes have back-to-back one-goal wins. After a 12-11 victory at home over Penn State March 26 in Ohio Stadium, the Buckeyes then downed Louisville in overtime, 13-12, March 31.
- Against the Nittany Lions, Ohio State led 9-5 at halftime but Penn State battled back and eventually held an 11-10 lead in the fourth quarter. The Buckeyes controlled the rest of the game, shutting out the Nittany Lions for the final 11:44. Sophie Baez set up the game-tying goal by Lindsay Epstein with 5:43 left and then the gamewinner from Jamie Lasda at 2:53.
- In the game against the Cardinals, the Buckeyes led 9-5 at halftime and 12-8 heading into the fourth quarter. Louisville came back to tie the game in the fourth quarter. In overtime, the Buckeyes went a player-down with 1:51 on the clock. Lindsay Epstein forced a turnover and the Buckeyes cleared the ball with less than 20 seconds left. Nicole Ferrara found Epstein in front of the cage and she scored with less than a second remaining to give the Buckeyes the win.
As a team ….
- Ohio State is averaging 13.42 goals a game, allowing 11.00 per contest. The team is eighth nationally and leads the Big Ten in draw control percentage (.587) and is 15th in draw controls per game (16.58). Ohio State averages 33.42 shots per game to rank 16th in the NCAA. The squad has double-digit goals in 10 of 12 games.
- The Buckeyes have the edge in ground balls, 206-180, and draw controls, 199-140, against their opponents this season.
Stats Stuff …
- Jamie Lasda leads the Buckeyes with 32 goals and Nicole Ferrara has a team-best 17 assists, with the duo tied for the team point lead with 39 each. Ferrara is second in goals with 22, followed by Lindsay Epstein with 21. Sophie Baez has 10 assists to rank second.
- Chloë Johnson is seventh in the country and second in the Big Ten with 8.25 draw controls per game. She has 10 or more in five games this season, including 53 in the last six games combined (8.83 per game).
- Johnson leads the Buckeyes with 99 draw controls. Jamie Level (40) and Epstein (35) each have more than 30 this season.
- Regan Alexander has started the last 11 games in the cage. She has 96 saves on the year, with a .455 save percentage.
- Alexander and Epstein are tied for first for the Buckeyes with 22 ground balls each this year, followed by Jane Cowley with 20 and Caly O’Brien with 19. Cowley has a team-best 15 caused turnovers and Epstein has 14.
- Ferrara (17 games, 38g, 20a, 58p), Lasda (13 games, 33g, 7a, 40p), Epstein (8 games, 15g, 4a, 19p), Baez (6 games, 12g, 9a, 21p), Level (6 games, 12g, 4a, 16p) and Ali Beekhuizen (4 games, 3g, 3a, 6p) carry scoring streaks of at least three games into Friday’s contest.
In the Record Book …
- Buckeye senior Chloë Johnson had nine draw controls at Northwestern March 19 to break the Ohio State single-season record, topping the previous mark of 79 set by Katie Chase in 2015 and Molly Wood in 2016. Johnson now has 99 draw controls this season.
- Johnson has also moved into third place in the career list with 184 draw controls, passing current associate head coach Gabby Capuzzi, who had 166 from 2009-12. Chase is second with 221 as a Buckeye from 2012-15 and Molly Wood is the all-time leader with 237 from 2015-18.
- Johnson had a career-high 13 draw controls against Duquesne March 10 to tie the program record for a single game, set by Molly Wood twice in 2016.
Individually …
- Baez is two away from hitting the 100-point mark for her career, with 64 goals and 34 assists in 52 games as a Buckeye. She has nine assists and 12 points in her last three games combined, including a career-best five assists vs. Penn State.
- Nicole Ferrara has recorded three-plus points in nine of 12 games this year and has at least one point in all 12 outings. She has 91 points in 33 games as a Buckeye, with 60 goals and 31 assists. Ferrara has back-to-back five-point outings, with two goals and a career-high three assists in each.
- Epstein has at least one goal in 11 of 12 games this season and multiple points in 10 outings, including a hat trick – with the overtime winner – in the last time out at Louisville. She has played and started 57 games as a Buckeye, with 60 goals, 18 assists and 78 points, along with 70 ground balls, 60 draw controls and 40 caused turnovers.
- Epstein has 35 on the year after 25 in her first 45 games in the Scarlet and Gray. The graduate student has also already set career highs in goals (21), points (27) and ground balls (22) this year, matching her personal best in assists (6).
- Ava Keethler has started all 12 games on defense for the Buckeyes this year and has 12 ground balls and seven caused turnovers. Cai Martin has 10 starts on defense and sophomore Sarah Johnson made her first two career starts in the last two games, while sophomore Erin O’Neil made her first career start at Louisville last week.
- Jamie Lasda has at least one goal in all 12 games this season, with multiple goals in nine outings. After recording two goals and five assists for seven points in nine games as a freshman last year, she has 32 goals, seven assists and 37 points this year.
- Chloë Johnson had a second straight outing with a hat trick against Louisville last week after scoring three times vs. Penn State. They were her first three-goal games since Feb. 15, 2020 at Stony Brook. She has a career best 15 goals, four assists and 19 points this year. She has 99 draw controls after 75 in her first 37 games in the Scarlet and Gray.
- Jamie Level is second on the squad with 40 draw controls, including seven at Colorado and five in three other games. She has an Ohio State career-best 16 goals this season, including six multiple-goal outings, and a career-high 10 assists, with one in each of the last three games.
Up Next
The Buckeyes will host No. 9 Maryland at noon April 17 in Ohio Stadium. Admission and parking are free. BTN will televise the contest.
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