Ohio State freshman midfield Sina Schwinn (7) tries to keep the ball away from her opponents on Sept. 14. Ohio State lost to Penn State 3-2. Credit: Claire Kudika | Assistant Design Editor
With about 15 minutes left in the matchup between Ohio State’s field hockey team and Miami (Ohio), RedHawk junior midfielder Marie-Claire Gorner surveyed the turf before her.
To her left, a goal filled with scarlet jerseys and a black-padded goalie hoping to defend against the incoming Miami penalty corner. Ahead of her, a semi-circle of white-clad RedHawks, hoping to be the ones to break the 1-1 tie late in the game.
At last, Gorner fired the ball toward the semi-circle, creating a mini mist of water from the spray at halftime that still had yet to evaporate in the 86 degree heat. Junior back Kirsten McNeil laid her stick on the ground, stopping the pass before quickly springing up to fire her shot into the incoming wave of Buckeye defenders.
She fired the shot just past the right foot of freshman goalie Aaliyah Hernandez to give Miami the lead, propelling them to the 2-1 victory against the Buckeyes.
“Tough result,” Ohio State head coach Jarred Martin said after the game. “Miami’s a good team. They won their conference last year, we knew it was going to be a good game coming in and I just thought we did a little too little too late.”
It was a game of missed opportunities for the Buckeyes. Martin’s club led the game with eight shots to Miami’s six and had four penalty corner shots, twice the total Miami had. However, only two of Ohio State’s eight shot attempts made it on net while the other six never forced Miami’s goalie to make a save.
The only save RedHawk senior Maddie Passarella made in the game came on a late effort from freshman forward Jessica Hourihane, who attempted a shot from the top of the striking circle. Hourihane launched her shot at Passarella, who stood in net and knocked the ball away with a pad save.
Ohio State had a penalty corner with seven minutes remaining in the game and the team trailing by one, but sophomore forward Nikki Trzaska’s shot was blocked by an incoming Miami defender.
Martin said the team has quality chances every game, but sometimes his players go too quick in critical points of the game and that the team will need to improve on its decision-making moving forward.
“We just need to stay calm and finish the plays,” Martins said. “I can’t fault the effort. I think they’re trying to do the right things.”
Ohio State had kicked off the scoring early in front of a season-high 371 people. Sophomore forward Sammy Stone passed the ball out on a penalty corner to freshman midfielder Sina Schwinn, who instead of shooting the ball, passed it again to junior midfielder Esther Clotet-Alsina. Clotet Alsina fired the ball just beyond the outstretched right foot of Passarella to give the Buckeyes the 1-0 lead just 2:13 into the game.
The game remained 1-0 for nearly 20 minutes until Miami senior midfielder Paula Portugal passed the ball down the field to sophomore forward Allie Grace Joyner, who saw nothing but Hernandez and an otherwise empty turf in front of her.
Joyner rushed down the field on the breakaway, slowing down just as she got in front of Hernandez. And with an Ohio State defender only then crashing down on her, Joyner slapped the ball right past the left pad of Hernandez to knot the game up at one.
That was one of the only blemishes on an otherwise strong outing from Hernandez, who finished the game with three stops, including several other breakaway opportunities.
“I thought [Hernandez] had a couple point-blank shots from some of the really good — they have some pretty talented players,” Martin said. “She handled herself well. I wish we just did a little bit more on the offensive side just to help that along.”
Martin said the team has a lot to improve on heading into the next game against Maryland at 4 p.m. on Friday, most notably improving the team’s energy and cohesive play. A team that appeared physically exhausted heading into the locker room at halftime, Ohio State did not make the adjustments Martin said he hoped they would make, and expects that will become the focus on practice during the week.
“I just thought overall just getting our energy a little bit higher,” Martin said about what he hoped to change during halftime. “I thought we didn’t come out with as much intensity as we needed to. I don’t know if that changed in the second half, but we’ll make those changes for next weekend.”
