The Ohio State women's soccer team (6-7-2, 3-5-0 Big Ten) lost a hard fought 1-0 contest to the No. 1 Penn State Nittany Lions (15-0-0, 7-0-0 Big Ten) Friday at the Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium.
The game drew a season-high crowd of 2,079 as OSU unsuccessfully attempted to break the NCAA women's soccer attendance record of 6,527.
The Buckeyes had the tough task of containing PSU's All-American senior forward Tiffany Weimer. Although the Buckeyes kept her under wraps for most of the night, their one mistake was crucial.
The only goal of the game came off a brilliant pass from Penn State defender Natalie Jacobs, who put ball just past two OSU defenders to set up Weimer with an easy chip shot over OSU sophomore goalkeeper Staci Sinkway in the sixth minute of the game.
"We played really well," junior defender Melissa Miller said. "We stepped up and did what we needed to do. They got a goal right away but we fought back."
After the goal, OSU evened play for the first half, but could not find an equalizer. The second half was a similar story.
"I was pleased with the response that my team showed after giving up a goal. They put their shoulders back and fought harder, and ultimately that's what you are looking for from a young team," coach Lori Walker said.
The rest of the game was a physical affair. Penn State ended the game with 16 fouls to OSU's 14, but the Buckeyes received the only booking of the game when junior defender and co-captain Emily Francis knocked down Weimer in the 12th minute of the match.
There were many opportunities for both teams to score, but after the early goal neither team was able to convert on any of those opportunities. OSU especially had some chances late in the game to knot the match, but the Buckeye forwards seemed to be too hesitant with their shot selection and ended up not getting a clean shot off.
"Penn State's defense was good; I think we had opportunities that we weren't willing to take half chances," Walker said. "I've got young players right now that want every goal to be a World Cup-quality goal. A toe poke counts just as much as a bicycle kick so we have to take chances and shoot the ball more."
Both goalies played tremendously. Sinkway ended the game with 10 saves and Penn State's Erin McLeod had five.
Penn State had the edge in the shot category over OSU 22-13 and had four corner kicks to OSU's one.
Walker said her players gave it their all and felt that this was the best she has seen them play as of late.
"There are moments that we lost our fight, but I think from top to bottom that was the hardest I have seen us play," Walker said.
With her goal, Weimer extended her goal-scoring streak to 15 straight games, matching the NCAA record set by Brandi Chastain in 1990. The record was then broken Sunday when University of Portland senior Christine Sinclair scored in her 16th straight game.
Weimer now has 22 goals this year, making her the leading scorer in the Big Ten. She is one goal away from tying the Big Ten record for career goals set by fellow Nittany Lion Christie Welsh (1999-2002). Weimer is a leading candidate for the M.A.C. Hermann Award, given to the best player in NCAA women's soccer. She was a runner-up for the award last year and a finalist as a sophomore.
The Buckeyes rebounded from Friday's physical game with a 1-0, double-overtime win Sunday against No. 24 Minnesota. Freshman forward Lisa Collison scored the game-winning goal. Sinkway and freshman Courtney Cripps combined on the shutout.
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