COLUMBUS, Ohio - The No. 25th-ranked Ohio State men's soccer team battled Big East foe West Virginia to a 0-0 tie through two overtimes Wednesday night at Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium. The draw moves the Buckeyes' record to 8-3-4 on the year, while the Mountaineers now stand at 6-2-6 after their fourth even game in their last five.
"It is difficult to play against a team that wants to draw 0-0," head coach John Bluem said. "They were very happy with the result of 0-0 and we were not very happy with the 0-0. We play the game to win and not sit back and defend. That is a good tactic ... but I don't like to play that way and it is frustrating to play against."
The teams ended the night with 11 shots apiece, though the Buckeyes produced several other quality runs that were thwarted by the WVU defense before getting a shot off. Chris Hegngi led the charge with a career-high tying four shots, while senior defender Joe Moore tallied his own personal-best three shots. Moore, who made his fifth start of the year, had two of his shots snagged by Mountaineer goalkeeper Zach Johnson, including one late in the second half that stood as one of the closest scoring opportunities of the night.
Fellow defender David Tiemstra also threatened on the offensive end, drawing a collective gasp from the crowd with a header off a free kick with four seconds remaining in the first overtime that sailed just over the crossbar.
While the Buckeyes produced this second-half offensive resurgence, out-shooting WVU 6-3 in the period, the Mountaineers countered with a 10-4 lead in fouls, finishing with over twice as many infractions and yellow cards on the night.
"We kept our composure and we kept our shape and we did not allow them a counterattack goal," Bluem said. "That is what they live for ... I think the battle by our team was very good too. We kept after it, kept going forward and trying to score goals. We just couldn't break them down."
The defense limited the Mountaineers to five shot attempts after the first half, as goalkeeper Matt Lampson earned his sixth shutout of the year with a career-high tying six saves.
The Buckeyes enter the toughest portion of their schedule with three-consecutive Big Ten games to end the regular season. They travel to Madison, Wis., to face Wisconsin at 2 p.m. Sunday before traveling to Indiana the following weekend (Nov. 1) and returning to Columbus to wrap up the campaign against Michigan Nov. 7.
