The Ohio State field hockey team defeated Northwestern Saturday for the 22nd consecutive time. The win secured the No. 2 seed for the Buckeyes in the Big Ten Tournament, which starts Thursday.
The tournament will be played in East Lansing, Mich., on Michigan State’s campus.
The Buckeyes will face the No. 7 seed Penn State in their first round game. Penn State defeated the Buckeyes 2-1 in overtime at State College, Pa., in the teams’ only meeting this season.
“Of course it was a big loss and setback,” said senior goalkeeper Lindsay Quintiliani, who was named co-Big Ten Defensive Player of the Week. “But we’ve bounced back since.”
The Buckeyes are 6-1 since their loss to Penn State and are ranked No. 13 in the NFHCA Division I Top 20.
The Nittany Lions have headed in the other direction. After defeating OSU, Penn State went 3-4 in its final seven games, failing to win another conference game and finishing in last place in the Big Ten at 1-5.
If the Buckeyes win their first-round meeting with Penn State, they will move onto the semifinal round, played on Friday. There, the Buckeyes would face the winner of Indiana and Northwestern.
The win over Indiana came in the Big Ten opener on Sept. 27. The Buckeyes finished the season with a win over Northwestern Saturday. Both victories came while their opponents were ranked in the top 20.
If the Buckeyes get through the first two rounds, they will play in the tournament championship at noon Sunday. All signs point to Michigan State as the would-be opponent in the championship game.
The Spartans have been dominant in conference play this season, going 6-0. Owning the top seed in the tournament, the Spartans receive a first-round bye and need only one win to reach the championship game.
The Spartans are also playing on their home field and will be facing the winner of Iowa and Michigan, both of which they’ve defeated this season.
The winner of the conference tournament receives an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament, which begins Nov. 14. If the Buckeyes fail to win the Big Ten tournament they will be looking for an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament.
