Sept. 28, 2014
Columbus, Ohio
Bert L. & Iris S. Wolstein Field at Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium
Ohio State 3 (5-6-0, 2-3-0 Big Ten), Northwestern 1 (4-6-2, 0-5-1 Big Ten)
Attendance: 671
COLUMBUS, Ohio – The Ohio State women’s soccer team defeated Northwestern, 3-1, Sunday afternoon at Bert L. & Iris S. Wolstein Field at Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium. With the win, the Buckeyes improve to 5-6-0, 2-3-0 in the Big Ten, while the Wildcats fall to 4-6-2, 0-5-1 in conference play.
“Our focus today was all about us,” Lori Walker, Ohio State head coach, said. “We haven’t been doing a lot of the little things lately. One of the things I talked to our team about was getting pressure higher up the field today and we did much better job of that today.”
After the Buckeyes controlled possession through the first 15 minutes, Northwestern tallied the best early chance in the 19th minute when a loose ball off a short corner found KK Barr in the middle of the box. The Northwestern senior turned and fired from six yards but Ohio State goalkeeper Megan Geldernick was there to make the diving save.
Four minutes later, Ohio State took advantage of their first quality chance when a Nichelle Prince cross from the right wing found Sammy Edwards who finished from 10 yards in the middle of the box for a 1-0 lead.
Things stayed quiet until the 39th minute when Lindsay Agnew played a beautiful through ball to Edwards who fired from 12 yards but Northwestern goalkeeper Lauren Clem was there to make the diving save to keep the match 1-0 heading into the half.
Ohio State held a 7-4 lead in shots, including 6-2 on goal, over the first 45 minutes.
Northwestern almost tied it in the 52nd minute but Addie Steiner strike from 10 yards off a rebound of a Barr shot caromed off the right post and was cleared out of play to keep it a 1-0 Buckeye lead.
The Buckeyes then had a chance of their own in the 60th minute when Agnew connected with a Nikki Walts far post corner but Clem made the diving stop to keep it a one-goal game.
Northwestern evened the score in the 63rd minute when Michelle Manning tracked down a Jennifer Korn free kick had placed a far-post strike from the left wing past Geldernick to knot the score at 1-1.
Less than four minutes later, Ohio State regained the lead when Nicole Miyashiro found an open Kayla Varner in the middle of the field and the Buckeye senior lofted a shot from 25 yards over the outstretched arm of Clem to give the Buckeyes the 2-1 advantage.
Alexis Degler then capped the scoring in the 88th minute when she finished off her own rebound after a nice long ball from Agnew to push the Buckeye lead to 3-1.
For the game, Ohio State held a 14-11 advantage in shots, 10-3 on goal.
Ohio State travels to Wisconsin at 8 p.m. ET Friday and Minnesota at 2 p.m. ET next Sunday.
