The old adage, “what won’t kill you can only make you stronger,” can be applied to the Ohio State men’s soccer team and its brutal non-conference schedule. With the likes of No. 1 UCLA and No. 13 Hartwick, OSU didn’t get blown out and actually put up a good fight in losing both of those away matches 1-0.
So naturally, the Oakland Golden Grizzlies, ranked a modest ninth in the NSCAA/Adias Great Lakes Regional Poll and has received votes in two national polls, were no pushovers.
But with the non-conference match in hand 2-1 last night at Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium, the Buckeyes normally impenetrable defense slipped up in the 84th minute.
Grizzlie defender Ryan Rzepka got on the end of a Philip Braathen pass and skipped a 15-yard strike past OSU goalkeeper Ray Burse, Jr. to send the game into overtime. The game would end that way after two 10-minute overtime periods.
“It was heartbreaking,” defender David Ridenhour said. “We had them, we were outplaying them. We kind of sat back defensively the last 15-20 minutes to try and ride it out, but sometimes when you do that, you risk giving up the goal.”
Ridenhour looked to be the hero of the game for the Buckeyes after he put OSU ahead 2-1 in the 60th minute. After a foul in the goal box and good acting abilities by midfielder Sammy Tamporello, Ridenhour was elected to take the penalty kick. In his first attempt on goal this season, Ridenhour didn’t disappoint. He chose right with his shot skimming off Oakland goalkeeper Jeff Wiese and into the upper right corner.
“My first goal of my career and it was a penalty kick,” the senior captain said. “It wasn’t even hit that well, but it was good that I hit it was some pace.”
With 20 minutes remaining in regulation, Oakland sent its defenders forward and also had three or four forwards consistently attacking OSU’s goal. It paid off, as the Buckeyes were unable to defend against the onrush of Golden Grizzlies.
“We tried to adjust,” OSU coach John Bluem said. “We had all the people in there, but people aren’t communicating and saying, ‘I got this guy, I got that guy.”
Put aside the last 25 minutes of the match and OSU (3-8-3, 2-1 Big Ten) dominated the game. But, as has been the case this season, OSU was unable to capitalize off its 20 shots on the night, with seven coming in the first half. And this coming after Sunday’s offensive display, where OSU put away three goals, the most this season.
“We created some very good chances,” Bluem said. “Unfortunately, as happened a lot this year, we didn’t get it in.”
In the 46th minute, OSU finally scored on a breakaway. Midfielder Peter Withers ran onto a pass down the center of the field from defender Eric Schwebach and nudged an 8-yard shot into the left corner of the net.
“It was a great ball by Schwebach, he played a little through ball and I just finished it,” said Withers, which was his second goal in two games.
In both overtime periods, OSU had chances to get its first overtime win this season against Oakland (5-3-4, 1-1 Mid-Continent) In the 109th minute, midfielder Adam Schauer could have done that, but he booted his shot inside the goal box over the goal.
” We were unlucky again. Even though we got two goals, we should have gotten more,” Withers said.
