The Ohio State women’s soccer team is four games away from a Big Ten championship, but don’t tell coach Lori Walker.
“I’m not concerned about it at all,” Walker said.
The coach is not talking about a championship just yet, but with her team tied with Penn State atop the Big Ten standings, winning the conference is a real possibility.
The Buckeyes moved their conference record to 4-1-1 with a 1-1 tie at Wisconsin and a 1-0 win at Minnesota last weekend. Now, they are preparing for a pair of crucial Big Ten games.
OSU travels to Champaign, Ill., Thursday, before returning home to play Purdue Sunday.
A huge part of the Buckeyes’ success has been their ability to keep the ball out of the net. Their goalkeeper, senior Lauren Robertson, now holds both the single season and the career record for shutouts.
However, records are of little consequence to Robertson without the success of the team.
“It’s one of those things that’s cool to have, but I don’t really think about it until the end of the season,” Robertson said. “We still have games to play and I’m more concerned about that than any of the records.”
If the team is going to win the conference, it will need to perform well at Illinois. Last season, the Buckeyes made the trip to Champaign and came home with a 2-0 defeat at the hands of the Illini.
In order to avoid a similar fate, the team will need to play well on the defensive end, Walker said.
“I anticipate that they will have good possession,” Walker said. “We are going to have to defend well, stay tight and not get pulled apart.”
As for Purdue, Walker said the Boilermakers present different challenges.
“They have all of their attacking personalities back and they are scoring all kinds of goals in all different ways,” Walker said. “We want to keep everything in front of us and prevent them from having those shooting opportunities, which I think our defense does a good job of.”
Walker said that because the conference did away with the postseason tournament, the Buckeyes need to remain near the top of the standings.
Unlike her coach, Robertson has a Big Ten title in her sights. The senior said that while winning a championship in her final season would be great, the progression of the team matters most.
“We’ve really been building for years now and I feel like we have a great team this season,” Robertson said. “The work that we’ve done and the things that we’ve pulled through together would make winning the Big Ten that much more meaningful.”
As for this weekend’s games, Robertson knows that Illinois and Purdue will be challenging tests for the Buckeyes, but is confident her team will be ready.
“Our plan is to win,” Robertson said. “It’s going to be a tough fight.”
