Senior midfielder Mona Frommhold (8) plays the ball forward during a game against Louisville Oct. 1 at Buckeye Varsity Field. OSU lost, 6-3.
Credit: Shelby Lum / Photo editor
The Ohio State field hockey team dropped two more Big Ten conference games this weekend at Buckeye Varsity Field.
The Buckeyes lost Sunday to No. 19 Michigan in overtime 2-1. They also could not secure the win Friday against No. 18 Iowa, falling to the Hawkeyes 3-1.
OSU (4-10, 0-4) got on the board first against the Wolverines, when junior midfielder Nina Laudahn hit the back of the cage in the 13th minute. It was Laudahn’s first career goal. The Wolverines tied the game less than a minute before the half, though, when senior forward and Wolverine leading scorer Rachael Mack got behind the Buckeye defense and scored.
The second half ended scoreless, but Mack found the net again in overtime to give Michigan the victory. It was her 69th career goal.
OSU again only scored once against Iowa Friday, when senior midfielder Mona Frommhold tied the game on a rebound in the 31st minute. The game was tied at halftime.
The Hawkeyes were able to take the momentum away from OSU, though, once the second half began. Coach Anne Wilkinson said the team lost its energy when Iowa got the first goal of the half.
“Iowa came out with a lot of momentum in the second half and it caught us on our heels,” Wilkinson said. “Once we let up that second goal, I think that kind of deflated them a little bit with their mentality and that’s where we need to get better and get stronger.”
Wilkinson said something the team had been working on for this weekend was being able to distribute the ball well on the field and make the other teams work. She said her team executed the ball movement only for half the game.
“We were able to move the ball well and I think in the second half, we probably could have taken off with the ball a little more,” Wilkinson said. “They gave us space, it was just a matter of us being confident and taking it and carrying it strong.”
Frommhold agreed with Wilkinson and said the team had a strong first half but did not keep the same intensity the whole game.
“Especially in the first half, we played really well together,” Frommhold said. “We used the small passes and we helped each other. We played as a team.”
The Buckeyes stepped up aggressively against the ball during the match and Frommhold said that was something they had planned to execute.
“This was our plan: to step up in front of our players so that we can intercept it before they get the ball,” Frommhold said.
Wilkinson said one thing she saw while playing the Hawkeyes was not enough pressure from her team to really try to stop the ball as much as the players could have.
“I also think where Iowa got us was they had some open looks,” Wilkinson said. “The midfield as far as our individual defense, really stepping up and pressuring the ball would have caused them a little bit more problems at certain times.”
OSU is next scheduled to face Ball State Wednesday at 3 p.m. in Muncie, Ind.
