The Ohio State women’s lacrosse team claimed a victory against the San Diego State Aztecs, 19-11, at the Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium Wednesday night after tying its season-high for most goals in a period.
Thanks to a team-high of five points off three assists and two goals by sophomore attackman Jackie Cifarelli, OSU improved to 5-6 overall and 4-1 at home.
The Buckeyes played at full speed in the first half of the game, scoring 12 points and shooting with 63 percent accuracy.
Less than a minute into the match, Cifarelli made the first score of the game. After another 20 minutes, OSU had built a 9-2 lead.
The Aztecs, though, would answer and trade goals back and forth with OSU, but OSU didn’t lose the lead, going into the half with a score of 12-5.
Junior attackman Katie Chase said it was teamwork that got OSU going.
“We started playing together really well,” Chase said. “Our defense got some really big stops for us and our attack got it flowing. Once we got into the flow of the game, our goals just kept coming. It was a strong team effort all around.”
Coming out of the game’s intermission, though, the Aztecs scored four goals in the first five minutes of the half, cutting OSU’s lead to three, 12-9.
Chase, though, said the comeback was expected.
“We knew that was going to happen,” she said. “We just needed to get back in the flow of our game.”
The Buckeyes quickly called a timeout, and after that, they controlled the rest of the half.
Chase said remembering the team’s theme this year provided the boost necessary.
“Our theme is ‘Buckeye Strong,’ be strong all over the field,” Chase said. “Our thing this year is just playing with heart, playing like you want it all over the field, play for each other.”
The Buckeyes went on to score five consecutive goals and earn their biggest lead of the game, 18-10, with just more than 10 minutes left in the game.
“San Diego State is a great team,” OSU’s women’s lacrosse coach Alexis Venechanos said. “They took us to our last limits and it was a very challenging game but we definitely responded so we are able to take some positives.”
The Buckeyes finished with 11 saves and 15 groundballs despite 22 fouls and seven turnovers.
OSU is scheduled to take on Vanderbilt at noon Sunday at Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium.