Ohio State junior goalie Devon Kerr makes a save in the 81st minute of Ohio State’s 1-0 win over Penn State Sept. 30 at Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium. Credit: Mac Connor | Former Lantern Reporter
After coming off a run of three straight victories following the 1-0 victory over Notre Dame, the Ohio State women’s soccer team loses momentum, falling to Florida Gulf Coast 1-0 at Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium.
In the 12th minute of the match, Florida Gulf Coast junior forward Evdokia Popadinova scored the game-winning goal. Meanwhile, junior goalkeeper Melissa Weck tallied a total of six saves in the clean sheet for the Eagles.
With this win, Florida Gulf Coast remains undefeated and improves their overall record to 5-0-0 on the year.
After three consecutive clean sheets for the Buckeyes, senior goalkeeper Devon Kerr made only one save on two shots on goal, and came up short without a goal from the offense.
Freshmen forward Emaly Vatne said the team was aware of the physicality of the competitors prior to the game.
“We knew they would be a scrappy team coming in,” Vatne said. “They didn’t surprise us with that, it was a physical game, late tackles, and yeah it really had an effect on our game.”
Ohio State outshot Florida Gulf Coast 16-6, but came up empty handed thanks to Weck’s effort in net for the Eagles.
Freshmen forward Kayla Fischer added that the team knew they would have to match their opponent’s strength.
“We knew we had to be physical back,” Fischer said. “I think we did a good job with that, we just had to bring it out in the beginning of the game.”
Fischer also said that she feels her team worked really hard, and just needs to work on finishing in the final third.
After this 1-0 loss at home, the Ohio State women’s soccer team drops to 3-3-0 for their overall record so far this season.
The Buckeyes will resume action next Friday as they travel to take on Penn State at 6 p.m.
