The Ohio State men’s soccer team won 3-2 over Northern Kentucky in Columbus, Ohio, Oct. 5. Credit: Zachary Rilley | Photo Editor
The No. 15 Ohio State men’s soccer team defeated Northwestern 2-1 at Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium Sunday, thanks to senior goalkeeper Keagan McLaughlin’s seven saves.
The Buckeyes (8-1-4, 3-1-1 Big Ten) scored two goals from penalty kicks from sophomore midfielder Anthony Samways and junior midfielder Parker Grinstead, respectively, to take down the Wildcats (2-7-4, 0-4-2 Big Ten), who currently do not have a spot in the Big Ten Tournament.
Ohio State kept the Northwestern defense on its heels in the first half, recording eight shots and three corner kicks but had no goals. Conversely, Northwestern’s few opportunities to score were held up by McLaughlin’s three first-half saves.
McLaughlin’s most notable save came at the 38th minute, as he reached out inches off the goal line to deflect a strike from Wildcats junior midfielder Joseph Arena.
The second half started with six consecutive fouls, including a late tackle yellow card by Wildcats graduate defender Ethan Dudley on freshman midfielder Luciano Pechota in the Northwestern 18-yard box. Junior midfielder Laurence Wootton’s penalty kick was deflected by graduate goalie Christian Garner, allowing Samways to put the sitter away at the 54th minute.
Samways said he has built confidence to step into more of an attacking role, leading to his first goal of the season.
“I can drive forward with the ball on the attack with confidence and then know when to switch sides and just come back on defense and know my role,” Samways said.
The Wildcats responded with a 67th-minute goal from freshman midfielder Jason Gajadhar outside the 18-yard box, over the head of McLaughlin, to tie the match at one goal apiece.
Ohio State missed counter-attack opportunities before another yellow card in its own box on a hand ball from senior defender Jack Ratterman. This instance led to another penalty kick, which Grinstead put away at the 80th minute.
McLaughlin recorded four saves in the second half, including two in the last 10 minutes on good strikes from Northwestern. His seven saves were the most he has recorded in a match this season.
McLaughlin said the defense makes his job easy, and he just has to take care of the final strikes from opponents.
“They play so hard, and we’re really compact in the back,” McLaughlin said. “[Nathan Demian] and Owen [Sullivan] do a great job of leading. We got Samways and Deylen [Vellios] on the sides that are just very gifted with the ball at their feet. So, I think front to back, like, we just defend so well as a team.”
Head coach Brian Maisonneuve said he is happy with a conference win but thought the team could have put more points on the board on eight shots on goal. He said the defense did a good job of keeping the Wildcats from scoring as well.
“I thought we had chances, thought we were missing a little bit of the killer instinct in that final pass,” Maisonneuve said. “I thought we did a fairly good job, limited their chances. But again, they put balls in dangerous areas. So, we really had to make sure our box defending was good.”
Maisonneuve, McLaughlin and the Buckeyes travel to State College for another conference matchup against Penn State Friday at 7 p.m. at Jeffrey Field.
