The Ohio State women’s soccer team has come a long way from back-to-back losses it opened the season with.
The Buckeyes pushed their win streak to six games and won their Big Ten conference opener, 2-1, against Minnesota on Sunday at Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium. OSU overcame a 1-0 deficit to force overtime where senior forward Tiffany Cameron scored the game-winner in the 99th minute.
In the first half, the Golden Gophers held an 8-1 lead in shots on goal and the Buckeyes had one shot attempted on goal.
Minnesota sophomore midfielder Katie Thyken scored the first goal in the 11th minute of the first half.
With a slow first half, freshman forward Marisa Wolf said the Buckeyes came into the second half not ready to give up.
“Personally, we struggled, you could see it, but when it all came together we worked hard and didn’t give up,” Wolf said.
In the 85th minute of the second half, Wolf scored her second goal of the season, tying the game.
Wolf scored from inside the six-yard box off a free kick from 40 yards out by senior defensive player Kendyl Reed.
The Buckeyes finished the second half with the 8-1 lead in shots.
Advancing into overtime, the Buckeyes were nearly defeated in the 93rd minute when Reed narrowly saved a shot by the Golden Gopher’s sophomore forward Taylor Uhl on the eight yard line.
The Buckeyes turned it around in the 99th minute when junior midfielder Kristen Niederhaus passed the ball to Cameron for a game-winning goal in overtime.
Even with the win, Cameron said the first half could have gone better for the team.
“We were very disconnected, it wasn’t us today,” Cameron said. “I think it was the level of competing. They out worked us for sure in the first half and the second half we kind of came back and we got some opportunities.”
Coach Lori Walker also said the team was not playing its best.
“This is about as bad of soccer we have ever played to be honest. We couldn’t connect three passes for most of the game and you are going to have days like that,” Walker said. “For a team to play as poorly as we did and still compete and win shows a tremendous amount of character.”
The Buckeyes will travel to Champaign, Ill., on Friday to face Big Ten opponent Illinois at 8 p.m.