A clutch finish from Makenna Webster gave the Buckeyes a shootout victory.
No. 3 Ohio State (13-2, 4-2 Big Ten) took down the Indiana Hoosiers (7-8, 2-4 Big Ten) 2-1 in a shootout victory after two overtimes as Webster scored the game-winning goal.
The score remained tied at zero into the second quarter.
Webster – the graduate forward – gave credit to Indiana’s structure and talented players for holding the Buckeyes to no points in the opening period.
“I think Indiana plays well structurally,” Webster said.”They have a lot of great players, skilled players, but I think we just need to keep working on coming out hard, playing the whole 60 minutes.”
Moments into the second though, Indiana sophomore midfielder Inés Garcia Prado found the back of the goal to give the Hoosiers a 1-0 lead.
Despite taking seven penalty corners in the first half, the Buckeyes were unable to capitalize.
Coming out of the break, head coach Jarred Martin said he wanted to see more off-ball movement, as well as increased energy and movement from his team on defense.
“I feel like we needed to put a bit more energy into our off-ball movement,” Martin said. “I feel like whoever had the ball, she had to dribble a little bit too much. So I didn’t like that.
Late into the third quarter, the Buckeyes tied it up after a penalty corner shot by junior back Katie Fichtner to even the game at 1.
Despite Ohio State outshooting Indiana 6-1 in the fourth, neither team could seal the game, forcing overtime.
The first and second extra periods remind a stalemate.
The ensuing shootout came to an end as Webster found the back of the net to give Ohio State a 2-1 victory.
Webster said her teammates who scored previously in the shootout, as well as senior goalkeeper Abby Danson, helped put her in a position to give the Buckeyes the win.
“We were only able to be in that spot because of the people that scored before, so it was kind of because of them,” Webster said. “I put it in, but it was because of Abby [Danson] and the people in front of me.”
The Buckeyes return to Buckeye Varsity Field Sunday at noon for a contest against the No. 16 Iowa Hawkeyes. The game will be broadcast on Big Ten +.
