The Ohio State men’s soccer team (5-6-5) will travel to East Lansing, Michigan, on Friday for a Big Ten Tournament matchup against Michigan State (7-1-7) Credit: Zachary Rilley | Lantern File
The Big Ten tournament for the Ohio State men’s soccer team kicks off Friday.
The Buckeyes are set to face off against a Michigan State team that they beat just 10 days ago at the DeMartin Soccer Stadium 3-2.
The matchup will once again take place in East Lansing, Michigan.
Michigan State (7-1-7, Big Ten 3-1-4) ended its last two regular season games with losses to both Ohio State and a 1-1 draw against Drake.
The Buckeyes (5-6-5, Big Ten 3-4-1) looked to have caught fire at the end of the season with two straight conference wins against Michigan State and Maryland after their own rocky start.
But with a tournament game amps up the pressure.
Senior midfielder Laurence Wootton, who recently earned his second-straight Big Ten Midfielder of the Year award, said he wants the underclassmen to consider this game’s opportunities. They have not to let it diminish their mindset, he said.
”I try to make sure they understand that it is an opportunity rather than something to fear,” Wootton said.“Play with the same courage and confidence you do in training and any other game.”
On the opposing end, the Spartans will likely be out for revenge. Not only because of what’s at stake, but the Buckeyes were only one of two teams team to hand them a loss this season.
Head coach Brian Maisonneuve said they have kept this fact in mind for their preparation, but their main goal is to focus on what they believe the Spartans are going to throw at them during the match.
“We know what we do well and what they are going to throw at us, so I mean toward the end of the year when you’re playing common opponents, the preparation is pretty similar, and you have to treat this game with if you win then you will advance,” Maisonneuve said.
In this matchup, the Buckeyes will look for another big performance from sophomore midfielder Luciano Pechota, who won Big Ten Player of the Week for his performance against Michigan State, which included two goals.
Pechota is tied for most goals on the team this season with Wootton, who scored four.
The Spartans will look to junior midfielder Sean Kerrigan to lead them, as he scored a penalty kick in the first matchup against the Buckeyes to cut the lead to 2-1. Kerrigan leads the team in goals with six.
Wootton said his preparation is mostly the same, but he has been practicing more penalty shots for if that time comes during the match.
“I always take a couple of penalties after training to make sure I stay sharp with them. That’ll come in handy for the knockout rounds of this tournament,” Wooton said.
Entering this game, the Buckeyes’ all-time record against the Spartans is 26-29-3, favoring the Spartans.
In order to secure another win, Maisonneuve said he wants the team to move on from its previous game against the Spartans and focus on this new matchup against them.
“This is tourney time, so we can’t look back at the game, you know, we can learn from it. We can grow from it, but we can’t think just because we beat them in the past that we’re going to walk on the field and win again,” Maisonneuve said.
The Buckeyes kick off against the Spartans in the DeMartin Stadium Friday at 6:30 p.m. on Big Ten+.
