The No. 19 Ohio State women’s lacrosse team faced the No. 18 Penn State Nittany Lions Sunday afternoon at Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium.
The Buckeyes fell to American Lacrosse Conference rivals Penn State, 18-12.
But for the Buckeyes it was a tale of two halves.
The Buckeyes jumped out to an early start in the first half as they were 9-6 with less than two minutes to go, with five unanswered goals.
But the Nittany Lions also came out firing and over-shot OSU 17-15.
But this did not overwhelm OSU goalie Annie Carruthers who had 11 saves in the game.
“To prepare for a team like Penn State, we look at patterns they have when shooting and put more pressure on them,” Carruthers said. “I know I look a lot at where they shoot, and if they’ve been going for one spot, I overemphasize that.”
Carruthers leads the ALC in saves per game with 12.2.
Although PSU overshot the Buckeyes, OSU lead 9-7 at the half. Alayna Markwordt, Brittney Zerhusen and Gabby Capuzzi, went into halftime with two goals apiece.
In the second half, the Nittany Lions came back with a purpose, as they took their first lead since early in the game, 13-10 with more than 19 minutes to play.
OSU’s Jayme Beard’s goal at 17:38 was one of only three goals for the Buckeyes in the second half.
Zerhusen had three goals in the game but still felt OSU didn’t get to the ball as often as it should have.
“I think every year with Penn State it’s a tough battle, no matter how each of our seasons are going,” Zerhusen said. “When it comes down to it, you have to have possession of the ball. We just couldn’t get the possession off the draw. That was a definite game-changer that we’re going to have to work on.”
At the end of the game, PSU overshot OSU 38-23, while OSU had 13 turnovers to PSU’s 11.
“It was hard to come back when we didn’t have the ball on our sticks. It was frustrating because we did it in the first half,” Coach Sue Stimmel said.
Ohio State will face Notre Dame Thursday at Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium at 5 p.m.
