Ohio State women’s soccer dominates, but can’t find the net against Northwestern

Aaron Tomich
Sun, 02 Oct 2016 18:19:53 +0000
Soccer, Sports, Women's Soccer, Buckeyes, Lori Walker, Nichelle Prince, Nicole Miyashiro, Northwestern, Ohio State women's soccer

OSU senior defender Nicole Miyashiro battles a Northwestern defender for the ball on Oct. 1, 2016 at Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium. Credit: Aaron Tomich | Lantern reporter

The Ohio State women’s soccer team responded to the offensive challenge the Northwestern Wildcats’ offense presented with a thrilling match, but a disappointing finish Saturday night.

The game ended in a 0-0 tie, after an overtime period, making the Buckeyes 7-4-2 (1-2-2 Big Ten); Northwestern 10-1-1 (3-1-1 Big Ten).

The Buckeyes’ defense stifled Northwestern potent strikers, but the biggest impact of the game came out of a strong and dominating offensive attack from the Scarlet and Gray. ?

In an attack that included 28 total shots and 17 corner kicks, the Buckeyes’ offense was relentless towards the strong Northwestern back line of defenders. ?With such high offensive statistics, there was a frustration when it came to the lack of scoring. ?

“I don’t know another sport where you can dominate an opponent as much as we did tonight and not find a way to get the result,” said OSU coach Lori Walker. “Obviously we feel good about our effort. We feel good about how much we dominated against Northwestern but we’re very disappointed that we couldn’t figure out how to put the ball in the rectangle, so that’s a bit frustrating.”

At the beginning of the tightly contested overtime period, redshirt senior defender Morgan Wolcott had an opportunity from a cross into the goalkeeper’s box, deflecting off the left post opposite the goal in what could have given the Buckeyes the lead. ?

“I thought it was going to bounce the other way off the post but it didn’t and then after that I thought we were going to get another opportunity,” Wolcott said. ?“But they were quick getting to the ball and getting it out, unfortunately.”

The motivation for tonight’s strong play came from last week’s 3-0 victory over Iowa, along with the desire to record another conference win. ?

“I think this week, after coming off the win on Sunday, we wanted to get this win again here,” Wolcott said. “We definitely dominated the game here. They’re a good team, and we really came out today.”

OSU’s defense made a statement, holding Northwestern to a total of 9 shots and three corners. ?Senior defender Nicole Miyashiro emphasized the team’s domination while looking ahead to next week’s matchup, using the strong defensive play as motivation.

“We’re frustrated but we’re going to take this momentum into Maryland,” Miyashiro said. ?“I think it’s a really good build up for us into that game and also just for the defense to get a shutout, that really helps us a lot.”

Miyashiro’s personal connection with Northwestern midfielder Kassidy Gorman created a fun and competitive twist to tonight’s game.

“That 10 minutes we had against each other, it was so fun,” Miyashiro said. ?“There was (a moment) over here (left side of field by the goal) where we were going against each other and she was dribbling, and I slid and kicked it out and there’s really no better feeling than that.”

OSU hopes to learn from tonight’s offensive domination, using the scoreless draw as motivation for their road trip to Maryland. ?

“Some of it’s just repetition. ?We have players that are capable of finishing a game at any time,” Walker said. “For whatever reason it just didn’t happen tonight.”