Game ending of Carmen Ohio by the entire Ohio State women’s soccer team after the game against Ohio University. Ohio State won 3-1. Credit: Lantern File Photo
After waiting more than 15 months between games, the Buckeyes and Wolverines will have to wait a bit longer to earn their first win.
In an exciting season opener, the Ohio State women’s soccer team (0-0-1) tied the Michigan Wolverines (0-0-1) 1-1 at the Woody Hayes Athletic Center Saturday after going into double overtime.
The Buckeyes opened play hard and fast, tallying five shots on goal in the first half and breaking through the Wolverine front line quickly. The team finished with 22 shots in total.
“I thought we had all kinds of attacking opportunities,” head coach Lori Walker-Hock said. “Having not played in 470 plus days, I was pretty happy with our efforts and the number of players we were able to use.”
Michigan struck first with a goal by freshman forward Sammi Woods in the 30th minute of play.
The Buckeye backfield was defended by junior defender Talani Barnett and senior Maggie Samanich, who left the game with an injury in the first half. Freshman Nina Leflore took over her post to help keep the Wolverines at bay.
“Our gameplan for today was to attack their backline and I think we did a good job off the gate of doing that,” redshirt junior midfielder Maddy Lowe said. “We all came together and made a pact that we weren’t gonna let them get behind us and we just packed together and held that line tight.”
Sophomore forward Emma Sears found the net in the second half to put the Buckeyes back in the game. She was assisted by last season’s leading scorer junior forward Kayla Fischer.
After regulation, the Buckeyes and Wolverines kept the pace fast, yet neither could break through to score, and the game ended after double overtime.
“I think with ties, obviously we want the win but against a great team like Michigan, who were Big Ten champs last year, it put us in a great, great position for the games this week,” Lowe said.
Five freshmen saw the field, with forward Peyton McNamara and midfielder Kine Flotre starting the game. McNamara was recently listed as a 2021 player to watch, a list selected by the Big Ten coaches. Other freshmen included Leflore and midfielders Christain Baumbick and Lauren Brown.
“The challenge here is that we haven’t even had a whole scrimmage and so this was their first collegiate game ever,” Walker-Hock said. “They had to learn how physical it is and where the space would be, how quickly collegiate defenders are going to close you down and so I thought that they really got better as the game went on.”
Flotre, hailing from Fjellhamar, Norway, narrowly missed two penalty kicks, after sophomore forward Lily Farkas received both a yellow and red card. Senior goalkeeper Hillary Beall got both saves.
Along with Farkas, Fischer also received a red card in the 104th minute. Ohio State and Michigan will be without both players for one game next week, as per NCAA rules.
“The largest bummer of the game is that each team had a red card,” Walker-Hock said. “That was the toughest part of the game, that each team is going to lose a player for next week and nobody has players to lose at this point with COVID.”
The Buckeyes look to get their first win of the season next Thursday, Feb. 25 against Wisconsin. The game is set for 2 p.m. at the Woody Hayes Athletic Center.
