Even before Vanderbilt joined Ohio State in the American Lacrosse Conference last season, bad blood was already brewing between the two teams.
OSU’s very first game in the program’s seven-year history came against the Commodores in Nashville, Tenn., and the Buckeyes were welcomed to lacrosse with a 21-7 shellacking.
But, how times have changed.
OSU has come a long way since their first meeting with Vanderbilt and has played tough games against the Commodores the past two seasons.
The No. 9 Buckeyes (10-3, 3-1 ALC) looked to be the favorites entering Sunday’s contest with the No. 17 Commodores (7-6, 4-2 ALC), ready to chip away at Vanderbilt’s series lead, which stood at 6-1.
Unfortunately, rankings mean nothing in grudge matches like this, as OSU couldn’t hold onto a one-goal lead in the closing seconds of regulation. The Commodores made the most of their opportunities in both overtime and sudden death in winning a thriller 12-11 over the Buckeyes at Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium.
“Vanderbilt always gets up to play us, and we get up to play them,” said defender Kimberly Lowe. “They know us pretty well and we know them pretty well.”
OSU dominated the first half going on a five-goal run that made it 6-2 at half time. The second half was filled with Buckeye fouls and costly turnovers, which allowed Vanderbilt to tie the game in regulation.
OSU coach Sue Stimmel said her team could have built an even bigger lead in the first half.
“We had opportunities to put it away in the first half, and we didn’t,” she said. “We hit a couple of posts, got a little sloppy at the end. I don’t know if we were kind of comfortable because we got up, but give Vanderbilt credit – they came out hard in the second half.”
Vanderbilt began its comeback in the first 16 minutes of the second half, tallying four straight goals that knotted the game at 6-6.
“They had all the ball control in the second half, which is big for them,” Lowe said. “Vanderbilt was able to capitalize off that a lot and kind of put us in a hole early.”
The Commodores four-goal surge woke up the Buckeyes, as OSU answered with three consecutive goals in a one-minute, seven-second time span.
OSU midfielder Regina Oliver began the scoring spurt when she made a quick move by her defender, getting a clear shot, and fired it past goalkeeper Ashley Bastinelli. Then midfielder Shannon Wilson notched back-to-back goals, increasing the Buckeyes lead at 9-6 midway through the second half. The first goal came when Wilson whipped an outside shot by Bastinelli, and the second came when she forced an opening in the Commodore’s defense and scored with a low shot to the corner of the goal.
Vanderbilt and OSU would trade goals before the Commodores went on a game-tying, three-goal tear that sent the game into overtime at 10-10.
Overtime rules in women’s lacrosse consist of two three-minute periods, followed by a three-minute sudden death victory period if both teams are still tied up.
The Commodores scored with five seconds left in the first overtime period after the Buckeyes controlled possession but turned the ball over at the end. Vanderbilt attacker Jeannie Crawley scored by curling around OSU’s defense and unleashed a line drive shot past Forquer with intense traffic in front of her.
In the second three-minute overtime period, Vanderbilt held onto the ball for almost the entire three minutes before OSU attacker Tracey Bounds broke free from her defender behind the goal and passed to an oncoming Wilson who netted the equalizer at 11-11.
“Shannon and Tracey play well together,” Stimmel said. “The play was similar to a goal that we had up at Cornell that tied things up.”
VU didn’t take long to put away the game in sudden death as it scored 58 seconds into the period. After an OSU foul, Commodore attacker Michelle Allen charged toward the goal for a one-on-one with Forquer and converted to give VU a 12-11 victory.
“I was hoping that overtime win (at Cornell) would give us the confidence here,” Stimmel said. “I think we had confidence. I just think we had a turnover, and Vanderbilt took advantage of it.”
