It took the Ohio State field hockey team seven games to score nine goals. Against Kent State, the Buckeyes almost matched their season total for goals.
OSU (5-3) beat Kent State (4-6) on Wednesday, 8-2, at Buckeye Varsity Field. After back-to-back road wins at Ohio University and Bucknell, OSU returned home and extended its win streak to three games. Senior forward Danica Deckard helped lead OSU to the win, tallying a hat trick and an assist. Deckard now has eight of the team’s 17 goals this season. By game’s end, six different OSU players had scored and four had posted an assist.
OSU coach Anne Wilkinson said her team now has the look of a “hungry” squad.
“I like the way we are playing together, our timing is a lot better,” Wilkinson said. “We’re distributing the ball and off second effort we are able to finish our opportunities.”
Deckard agreed.
“We were just really connecting passes and making stuff happen. So, it was really good to get a game like this where we made each other look good,” Deckard said.
Kent State struck first 10 minutes into the game and held onto the lead until the 23rd minute when Deckard scored two unassisted goals in less than three minutes to give the Buckeyes their first lead.
OSU wouldn’t look back.
A goal from senior forward Berta Queralt, assisted by junior back Nora Murer, brought the score to 3-1 with five minutes left in the first half.
OSU struck first in the second half with the first career goal from sophomore midfielder Mona Frommhold and an assist from Deckard nine minutes in. The Golden Flashes countered with a goal of their own less than a minute later making the score 4-2.
After giving up a second goal, junior goalkeeper Emma Voelker turned away three shots and OSU held Kent State scoreless in the last 25 minutes of the match.
“Emma played great, Emma made some great touches on it,” Wilkinson said. “All the support players in that corner defense played really smart, really proud of them.”
OSU continued to pull away from the Golden Flashes with consecutive goals from veteran players in the span of almost five minutes. First, it was junior midfielder Paula Pastor-Pitarque who won possession of the ball in front the net and put it past the goalie for her second goal of the season.
Next, Deckard completed the hat trick with a goal off an assist from sophomore forward/midfielder Carly Mackessy.
The Buckeyes kept the pedal to the metal despite their 6-2 lead and scored two more goals in the last five minutes of the game.
OSU’s seventh tally came from freshman forward Peanut Johnson with an assist from fellow freshman forward/midfielder Annie VonderBrink. It was Johnson’s first career goal and VonderBrink’s first career point.
“It was exciting because I’ve been working hard but it was a complete team effort,” Johnson said about her first goal.
The scoring barrage ended with a second goal from Frommhold with 3:17 left in the game.
The Buckeyes will continue their home stand and start Big Ten play Friday versus No. 10 Northwestern.
“It’s going to be a great game, like every team in the Big Ten you can’t take any of them lightly,” Johnson said. “It’s going to be a really tough, we just have to fight for all 70 minutes.”