Oct. 9, 2011
Box Score
Site: Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium (Columbus, Ohio)
Score: Northwestern 3, Ohio State 2
Records: Northwestern (5-4-3, 1-0-1 Big Ten), Ohio State (7-5-1, 2-1-0 Big Ten)
Next NU Event: Wednesday, Oct. 14, 7 p.m. - vs. Northern Illinois
COLUMBUS, Ohio - Northwestern had a strong offensive showing Sunday in Columbus, scoring a season-high three goals in the first 58 minutes and fought off two late Ohio State goals for the 3-2 win. The Buckeyes were atop the Big Ten standings heading into Sunday's game.
"The first 15 minutes were very tactical and people kind of feeling each other out, but I thought the last part of the first half and then the first half of the second half, we played really well," Northwestern head coach Tim Lenahan said. "We really kept the ball at midfield, didn't generate a ton of chances, but we were doing a good job of keeping the ball. We executed two great set pieces and scored another great goal."
More than 35 minutes passed before the first goal. Chris Ritter (Winnetka, Ill./New Trier) tallied his third goal of the year at the 35:35 mark off a header into the top left corner. Jarrett Baughman (Bloomington, Ind./North) and Grant Wilson (Kansas City, Mo./Rockhurst) were each credited with an assist on the first goal.
Shortly after the beginning of the second half (at the 47:28 mark) Oliver Kupe (Clarkston, Mich./Clarkston) then scored his second goal in as many games and team-leading fifth goal of the year on another header, this time into the top right corner from the top of the goal box. Kyle Schickel (Louisville, Ky./Saint Xavier) and Lepe Seetane (Lesotho, Africa/Trinity) both assisted on the goal.
Just 10 minutes later, Northwestern scored its third and eventual game-winning goal as Schickel took a shot from the left side of the goal box across which went past OSU goalkeeper Matt Lampson into the middle of the goal. Peter O'Neill (Fairway, Kan./Rockhurst) and Baughman assisted on Schickel's score.
"It's nice to have balanced scoring and a few different guys getting involved," Lenahan said. "We've struggled scoring goals this year so to put three up against a really good defensive team like Ohio State is great."
Despite the 3-0 lead, Ohio State scored twice to keep it close. NU's Nick Gendron (Ramsey, N.J./Ramsey) received a yellow card at the 74:58 mark, setting up a penalty kick for Ohio State. Chris Hegngi took the penalty kick and knocked in a shot past NU goalie Tyler Miller (Woodbury, N.J./Bishop Eustace) to put the Buckeyes on the board.
Hegngi struck again at the 81:52 mark as he flicked in a pass from Omar Vallejo, cutting Northwestern's lead to just one at 3-2. Both teams failed to get off another shot in the final minutes and Ohio State received two yellow cards as Northwestern hung on for the win.
"This is not a 60-minute game, this is a 90-minute game and we let down a little bit (at the end)," Lenahan said. "Ohio State is very good, there's a reason they've been to four-straight NCAA Tournaments and are one of the top programs. They brought all their subs in and one would think they kind of surrendered the game, but in actuality what they did was they brought a lot of energy in. During the last 30 minutes, they did a great job and really took it to us, scored two goals and made the game much more exciting than I had hoped for."
Northwestern finished with a 12-11 advantage on shots, including a 9-5 lead in the first half. Both goalies finished with three saves with Miller saving one in the first half and two in the second. Ohio State had a 4-1 advantage on corner kicks.
Northwestern takes another break from Big Ten action, hosting in-state rival Northern Illinois at 7 p.m. Wednesday at Lakeside Field.
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