The Ohio State men’s soccer team gathers up prior to the start of the game against BGSU. Credit: Jack Westerheide | Managing Editor for Design
The Ohio State men’s soccer team (1-14-2, 0-7-1 Big Ten) took the home favorite Wisconsin Badgers (9-5-2, 6-2 Big Ten) to overtime in Madison, Wisconsin on Sunday afternoon.
Yet, as has happened on multiple occasions this season, a goal in the final minutes proved to be the dagger that killed any hope of an Ohio State victory, as the Buckeyes fell to the Badgers 1-0 for the team’s 14th loss of the season .
Freshman forward Andrew Akindele scored the game winner with a 1:13 left in the second overtime period, taking the rebound off of his own miss, and punching the rebound into the back of the net to seal the victory for the Badgers, who will head into next week’s Big Ten Tournament as the No. 2 seed.
Sunday’s match represents the second match that the Buckeyes have lost in overtime in 2018, while it is the third match that the Buckeyes surrendered either a game-tying goal, go-ahead goal or a game-winning goal in the final minutes.
Ohio State outshot Wisconsin 14-12 on the afternoon and also displayed a much more disciplined game, recording nine fouls as opposed to Wisconsin’s 19.
Arguably the Buckeyes’ best opportunity of the afternoon came in the first half when redshirt senior midfielder Brady Blackwell saw his free kick from near midfield hit the crossbar.
Redshirt junior goalkeeper Parker Siegfried made four saves in another quality outing for the Buckeyes.
Ohio State will enter the Big Ten Tournament as the ninth seed and will play eighth seed Northwestern (5-8-5, 0-5-3 Big Ten) in the Tournament play-in game on Saturday.
