The No. 20 Ohio State women’s soccer team celebrates while facing Maryland Thursday. Ohio State won 7-0. Credit: Zachary Rilley | Photo Editor
The No. 25 Ohio State women’s soccer team begins its postseason Sunday, taking on Nebraska in the Big Ten Tournament quarterfinals at Hibner Stadium.
The No. 25 Buckeyes (10-4-3, 5-3-2 Big Ten) hold the No. 5 seed in the Big Ten Tournament, while the Cornhuskers (7-6-5, 5-3-2 Big Ten) sit at No. 4 and earned home-field advantage. The winner of Sunday’s clash advances to the semifinals scheduled for Thursday at Lower.com Field in Columbus.
Despite failing to score a goal in both games last week, head coach Lori Walker-Hock said this week begins a new season.
“There’s always three seasons,” Walker-Hock said. “There’s your regular season, and there’s your conference championship and then your postseason in the NCAA’s. So, right now everything’s 0-0-0 and we take them one at a time, and so the goal is to go to Nebraska and find a way to win.”
The Buckeyes and Cornhuskers faced off on Oct. 8 and played to a 2-2 draw after Nebraska sophomore forward Sarah Weber scored the equalizer in the 86th minute.
Walker-Hock said her squad has to start fast and finish strong in order to win the rematch against Nebraska.
“It would have really changed the outcome of our season,” Walker-Hock said. “Nebraska is very capable. They’re a high-octane offense, so we’ve got to defend hard and come out strong.”
Offensively, the Cornhuskers are led by Weber’s nine goals and four assists, sophomore midfielder Florence Belzile’s three goals and four assists and junior forward Eleanor Dale’s four goals and two assists.
Nebraska has played one goalkeeper the entire season, as junior Sami Hauk played all 18 games, making 66 saves while conceding 31 goals.
Senior defender Talani Barnett, who was named to the All-Big Ten First Team Thursday, said the Buckeyes need to stick to what they do well.
“Just playing our game,” Barnett said. “We played our game last time, and we did very well.”
Senior forward and All-Big Ten Second Team member Emma Sears leads the Buckeyes in scoring with eight goals and five assists. She’s followed by senior forward and All-Big Ten First Team member Kayla Fischer’s eight goals and two assists and sophomore forward Kailyn Dudukovich’s seven goals and one assist.
First-year goalkeeper Molly Pritchard’s performance this season earned her a place on the Big Ten All-Freshman team. She made 47 saves and conceded 10 goals in 16 games while graduate Kat Robinson made 21 saves and conceded four goals in 13 games.
Ohio State hopes to move one step closer to winning the Big Ten Tournament with a 1 p.m. start Sunday.
