Ohio State President Ted Carter performs the coin toss before the Buckeyes’ last regular season match at home against the Michigan State Spartans Tuesday. Credit: Macy Erickson | Lantern Photographer
A late goal from David Ajagbe clinched a tie for the Buckeyes on senior night.
In their last home game of the regular season, No. 1 Ohio State (11-1-3, 6-1-2 Big Ten) tied the Michigan State Spartans (5-6-4, 4-3-2 Big Ten), 2-2 at Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium despite an early goal from graduate midfielder David Wrona and a late goal from the freshman forward Ajagbe.
Head coach Brian Maisonneuve was proud of the impact the seniors have had on the program.
“I love those guys to death,” Maisonneuve said. “They’ve done so much for this program. They really helped build it into what you see today. So much quality on the field, but the best thing about that whole group is just their character off the field.”
And Wrona is just as thankful and is ready for their last game before the postseason.
“This community, this team staff, it means a lot to me,” Wrona said. “So it’s very nice to get one back, one to help the team as well. Unlucky we got the tie, but at the same time, we get to learn and move on.”
Right out of the gate, the Buckeyes established their presence, with senior Thomas Gilej taking the first shot of the match in the second minute that was narrowly deflected by Spartan redshirt goalkeeper Zac Kelly.
In the 12th minute, Wrona scored his third career goal for the Buckeyes, drilling the ball into the bottom left of the Spartans’ net to give Ohio State a 1-0 lead off an assist from junior midfielder Ashton Bilow.
“I kind of had a feeling he’d [Bilow] hit it back to me, and it got touched just a little bit, which pulled that goalie out and kind of made it easy,” Wrona said. “That whole backside was open, so I just thought, hey, I’ll slip it in.”
The Spartans broke the tie in the 62nd minute when senior midfielder Sean Kerrigan scored in the top right of the Buckeyes’ net off an assist from sophomore forward Richie Ludwig to equalize the match.
In the 65th minute, Ludwig drilled the ball into the bottom right of the Buckeyes’ net to take a 2-1 lead following an assist from sophomore midfielder Colin Arce.
But Ajagbe found the equalizer with a header to the top left of the Spartans’ net, following an assist from junior defender Donovan Williams in the 78th minute.
“I ended up just following my instinct, and the ball just came right to me, and it was nice to score,” Ajagbe said. “So I’m happy about that.”
The Buckeyes travel to Ludwig Field Sunday at 1 p.m. to face the No. 2 Maryland Terrapins in the regular season finale.
