The Ohio State women's soccer team (3-4-2) was both splayed and mauled this weekend as the team fell to both the Michigan Wolverines and Michigan State Spartans in its first two games of the season.
The Buckeyes started their Big Ten season at 0-2 by losing to the Wolverines 4-2 Friday and to the Spartans 1-0 Sunday.
"Friday we played real well but on Sunday we showed up a different team," said junior defender Melissa Miller. "We just need to keep working hard for us to get better."
The Buckeyes jumped to an early lead against the Wolverines, scoring in the 10th minute of the game. Sophomore midfielder Lara Dickenmann scored her first goal of the season off a header from a long free kick by Miller, who earned her second assist of the season.
However, the Buckeyes' lead disappeared when the Wolverines struck back by scoring two goals in the first half. The tying goal came in the 24th minute when sophomore Melissa Dobbyn scored on a feed from senior Therese Heaton. The Wolverines struck again at the 40:18 mark, when sophomore midfielder Sarah Banco scored off a header.
In the second half, the Wolverines continued to score, tallying up two more goals. The first came at the 54:21 mark when the ball bounced off a Buckeye defender, resulting in an OSU own goal. The Wolverines scored their fourth goal during the 75th minute when Dobbyn scored her second goal of the game - this time unassisted. Buckeye freshman forward Lisa Collison scored her team-leading sixth goal of the season at the 80:17 mark, ending the game at 4-2.
"During warm-ups we felt like a complete OSU team because we were pumped about the game, but we didn't finish the way we needed to," said junior co-captain Emily Francis. "If we could have given up less corners we could have made the game closer."
The Buckeyes were outshot by the Wolverines 24-15 and lost the corner kick advantage 17-5.
"We fought harder this game than I have seen all year, and it showed that we aren't going to rollover to anyone," said coach Lori Walker.
In Sunday's match against Michigan State, OSU could not get on the scoreboard. The first half was scoreless with the Buckeyes taking four shots compared to the Spartans' 10.
Spartan goalkeeper Nicole Galas stopped all four Buckeyes' shots in the half and OSU sophomore keeper Staci Sinkway made five saves. However, in the second half the Spartans scored within two minutes to give them a 1-0 advantage.
Senior forward Emma Harris of the Spartans scored in the 47th minute, assisted by senior forward Dana Voorheis and junior forward Jenee Witherspoon.
"On Sunday we showed up a different team than Friday," Walker said. "We need to be in shape and be able to play two games during the weekend."
Walker said the team has to do a lot of work to get back into contention in the Big Ten.
"We need to learn from the small things and we need to be able to execute our game plans properly, and winning will be the by-product," Walker said.
Spring Break
