The Ohio State women’s soccer team stands together and talks before their game against the Wisconsin Badgers on Oct. 21, 2018. Ohio State won 2-1. Credit: Cori Wade | Lantern File Photo
The Ohio State women’s soccer team will be back in action Saturday at the Woody Hayes Athletic Center after the postponement of their fall season, taking on rival Michigan in its first match since October of 2019.
In January, the Big Ten conference announced an 11-game, conference-only spring season would take place beginning in February. Like many other sports, the soccer regular season was postponed due to the health and safety concerns of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
As the team has battled changing circumstances, senior defender Izzy Rodriguez said they have learned to adapt to various curveballs that have come their way.
“Our team’s been really good at just going with the flow,” Rodriguez said. “We’ve done a really good job of focusing on what we can control right now and moving forward with that.”
Ohio State has seven seniors returning this season, including Rodriguez, goalkeeper Bailey Kolinski and midfielder Marissa Birzon. Junior forward Kayla Fischer, who led the team in scoring and totaled 14 points last season, also adds to the team’s experience.
“Anytime that you have a senior-laden team, standards are upheld at a very high level, and we will lean on those seniors and lean on that experience,” Ohio State head coach Lori Walker-Hock said. “At the same time, we have six freshmen that don’t know what playing in a college soccer game means. We will use that experience, but we’ll also watch and use the excitement those young newcomers will have in their eyes.”
Saturday will be the first chance the newcomers have had to play an opponent other than their own team in a scrimmage. Rodriguez said the upperclassmen have played an important part in helping the freshmen transition to college athletics as well as adjusting to new COVID-19 guidelines.
“All of us are ready to compete and get the chance to play against anyone but ourselves,” Rodriguez said. “I’m excited to see our new freshmen play and to see them in an environment that’s more competitive and more fun than training.”
Due to the time of year, the team will mainly play their home games at the Woody Hayes Athletic Center as opposed to their home base, Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium. Although adjusting to the smaller field size has been an issue, Walker-Hock is thankful the team won’t have to play outside during a snowstorm.
“We play our spring games in there, so this is not completely foreign to us,” Walker-Hock said. “You’re losing a fair amount of width, but what you’re gaining is 68 to 70 degrees and no elements of snow or ice, so there’s a trade-off there. There are only four teams in the conference that have on-campus facilities that could be utilized, and we’re fortunate to be one of those.”
Ohio State was able to play in three spring season games in 2020 but had to stop all activity as a result of the coronavirus. Walker-Hock said her team has been chomping at the bit to play and is thankful to the NCAA for giving them a season.
“We’ve got student-athletes that have waited 16 months to play in a Big Ten game,” Walker-Hock said. “It wouldn’t matter if it was Michigan or any other team coming in here. The rivalry right now is not what we’re focused on.”
The Buckeyes lost to Michigan 2-1 last season. The Wolverines finished 17-6-1 and went onto the NCAA tournament, where they were knocked off by North Carolina.
Rodriguez said that while the rivalry game is immensely different this year, the team is just happy to be playing.
“I know everyone’s gonna have that excitement, but it’s definitely gonna be different not having fans,” Rodriguez said. “The energy is really just going to have to come from us, but it’s something like never before and even though it is different, it’s still gonna have that same competitiveness that always does.”
The match is set to kick off at 5 p.m. Saturday at the Woody Hayes Athletic Center.
