Controversial goal leads OSU to overtime victory

Overtime ended abruptly Saturday as Tim Gabel slid head-first through the wet grass to celebrate his game-winning goal against Michigan.

The junior defender scored on a corner-kick assist from senior forward Xavier Balc less than a minute into overtime to lift Ohio State to a 1-0 victory against Michigan in Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium.

“My defender kind of lost his mark on me and I got a good touch on it with my foot,” Gabel said. “(It) hit the crossbar and to me it seemed like it bounced over the line and then bounced out.”

After the referee signaled it a goal, Gabel immediately bolted for midfield and slid before his teammates piled onto him. Meanwhile, Michigan coach Steve Burns debated with the referees about whether the ball crossed the goal line and whether OSU midfielder Danny Irizarry interfered with the Michigan goalkeeper.

“Well we worked hard for that corner kick and when (Balc) serves the ball in there it’s a great opportunity every time,” Gabel said.

The Buckeyes controlled the ball and the tempo for the better part of 90 minutes, but a resilient Wolverine defense and several missed scoring opportunities left both teams scoreless at the end of regulation.

“We were working the ball in the midfield and getting chances up top, we just couldn’t get that last touch and that last pass to get a goal,” said Balc, whose team-high five shots led the Buckeyes to a 21-11 shot advantage.

With the win, the No. 23 Buckeyes (10-3-3, 3-1-1) extended their unbeaten streak to six games (5-0-1) and lengthened their unbeaten streak against Michigan (10-5-2, 0-3-2) to four games (3-0-1).

“We’re two teams competing to get a better record to go to the NCAA tournament,” Balc said. “We thought it was a must-win and I think (Michigan) thought the same.”

Coach John Bluem started all seven of his seniors in honor of Senior Day, and they came out energetic and established control early in their last home game. They tied the 2002 senior class for most wins by one class with 44.

“We’ve got a great group of seniors,” he said. “I wasn’t worried about how they would perform because they’ve all seen playing time before.”

Gabel echoed those thoughts. “This was a big game for them because some of them don’t see that much time,” he said. “We all had confidence in them and knew they weren’t going to hold us back.”

His game-winning score was his third goal of the season, which ties senior defender Eric Brunner for most on the team.

“Tim’s got a great left foot and really adds a new dimension to the left side of our attack when he’s in there,” Bluem said.

Gabel and Balc modestly credited one another for the goal.

“That kid is a master on the free kicks – whenever he’s on the ball, there’s always a chance to put the ball in the back of the net,” said Gabel of Balc.

“It was like any other corner kick I take – just wanted to put it in the mix and see if any of our big guys could get on the end of it,” said Balc, who set a new OSU single-season record with 11 assists and augmented his OSU career-record to 32. He also leads the Big Ten in assists this season.

The Buckeyes travel to Louisville Wednesday to play the Cardinals before their last regular-season game at Michigan State (11-1-3, 2-1-1) Sunday.

Neither coaches nor players are worried about looking ahead to the important showdown with the Spartans.

“I think our guys have the right mind-set – we never look through the next game,” Gabel said.

Kyle Clapham can be reached at [email protected].