The Ohio State women’s lacrosse team celebrates after a goal during a 16-6 win over Louisville at Ohio State Lacrosse Stadium Mar. 28, 2023. Credit: Caleb Blake | Photo Editor
With an experienced new head coach and three players selected as Big Ten Players to Watch, it’s possible that Robert Morris had it coming.
The Ohio State women’s lacrosse team had an electric energy going into its season-opener matchup against Robert Morris Friday at the Ohio State Lacrosse Stadium.
This energy remained throughout the entirety of the game, which resulted in a 19-3 win for the Buckeyes.
A wide range of players took part in achieving the high score with a total of 11 different scorers.
Freshmen Maeve Simonds, Kampbell Stone and Kate Tyack had their first collegiate goals and junior Annie Hargraves as well as senior captain and Big Ten Player to Watch Jamie Lasda had hat tricks, scoring three goals apeice.
It was Amanda Moore’s first game as the head coach of the Buckeyes. Moore said utilizing every player on the team allowed the Buckeyes to rack up points in the manner they did.
“We really wanted to stretch our emotional, mental and physical endurance this game to create depth and we felt like being able to use everyone on our roster allowed us to effectively hit that mark,” Moore said.
Senior captain Emily Magalotti echoed what Moore said, stating that depth was a strength for the team in this matchup. It’s what helped keep the energy high during the entirety of the game, she said.
“I would say we have a lot of speed and we have a lot of depth,” Magalotti said. “We have been using a lot of our freshmen and the fact that we had a different player scoring every single time was actually awesome, so it kept the adrenaline going.”
The first quarter set the tone of the game for the Buckeyes with five goals being scored thanks to senior captain Leah Sax, junior Brynn Ammerman, Hargraves, Lasda and another by Hargraves.
Senior captain and goalie Regan Alexander, who was also selected as a Big Ten Player to Watch, had one save.
The Robert Morris Colonials completed two of their goals in the first quarter. One by graduate and 2023 All-MAC select Colleen Tifft and another by senior Lilli Hadden.
The Buckeyes kept their foot on the gas in the second quarter, scoring even goals with two coming from Lasda and Coleman.
Hargraves, Stone and Ammerman also joined in on the fun as Alexander recorded two saves.
The second half was similar to the first as the Buckeyes continued to stand their ground. The Colonials had a bit more aggression that led to another goal from Tifft in the third quarter.
Nonetheless, the Buckeyes had three goals from Sax, junior Oregon transfer Gabby Cleveland and sophomore Casey Roberts in the third quarter.
The Buckeyes ended with a bang in the last quarter with two goals from Simonds and Tyak and two goals from sophomore Kit Zanelli at the end of the game.
The Buckeyes will take on Kent State Sunday at 1 p.m., at the Ohio State Lacrosse Stadium. Big Ten Plus will stream.
