Maria Briones tallies twice while Berta Queralt, Aisling McKeon each score one
COLUMBUS, Ohio - The No. 19 Ohio State field hockey remained tough to beat at home, earning a 4-3 win vs. Michigan at North Turf Field and improving to 8-1 in Columbus and 11- 4 overall at its Scarlet and Gray game Saturday afternoon. With the victory, the Buckeyes move to 3-1 in the Big Ten while the Wolverines drop to 2-2.
"I'm really proud with the way this team has been playing this season, including today," Anne Wilkinson, Ohio State head coach, said. "Whenever you put up four goals, you put yourself in a position to win and that is what happened today. We held on and remain in the hunt for a Big Ten title."
Ohio State now only trails Michigan State who is 3-0 in the league standings. The two squads will meet head-to-head in a Big Ten Network game at 3 p.m. Friday in East Lansing, Mich.
The two teams played a scoreless 21 minutes until sophomore Maria Briones opened up the scoring, flicking up a slot pass from senior Rachel Hunter past UM sophomore goalkeeper Christi Barwick to put the Buckeyes up 1-0 at 22:30.
Ohio State continued to put pressure on the Michigan defense, scoring just three minutes later as freshman Berta Queralt took the ball unassisted around a Wolverine back, using a reverse-stick shot from the left side to beat Barwick topshelf and give OSU a two goal lead.
Michigan broke onto the board at 27:54 as junior Meredith Way sent a grounder to the left corner to cut Ohio State's lead to one.
Briones notched her second goal of the game and 10th of the season to again put Ohio State up by two just before the half at 32:12. The Barcelona, Spain, native tipped in a pass from sophomore captain Aisling Coyle who worked the ball in toward the goal from a penalty corner situation.
In the first 35 minutes, Ohio State held a 3-0 advantage in penalty corners and a 5-2 lead in shots with neither Michigan shots on goal. This season, the Buckeye defense has limited its opponents to just 9.7 shots per game.
In the second half, the game turned into a defensively heavy contest as Ohio State goalkeeper Lindsay Quintiliani made four saves and Wolverine keeper Barwick made two.
Junior Aisling McKeon opened the second stanza by walking in a pass from Queralt into the Michigan net at 39:27. With Barwick caught alone in the backfield, Queralt took the ball deep into Wolverine territory, deking the UM keeper and sending a side pass to McKeon who redirected it into the net.
The Buckeyes had their first penalty stroke called against them this year and Way scored again at 59:02 to make it a two-goal game. The Wolverines followed with another tally at 63:38 to make it 4-3 with less than seven minutes remaining. Michigan's Way found Adele Mills who flicked the ball within close range for a goal.
Ohio State remained composed, pushing the ball deep into Wolverine territory again and earning two late penalty corners as time expired.
The Buckeyes ended the game with six penalty corner attempts while the Wolverines had nine. Shots were balanced between the two teams, Michigan posting 12 and Ohio State 11.
With four stops, Quintiliani earned her 39th career win and is 11-3 this season while Barwick dropped to 3-2.
Up next, Ohio State will play its second game on the Big Ten Network in 2009, travelling to East Lansing, Mich., to battle Michigan State at 3 p.m. Friday. The game will be shown on a tape delayed basis at 6 p.m. Sunday.
Note:
With 40 points on 14 goals and 12 assists, freshman Berta Queralt is four points away from breaking into the Top 10 on Ohio State's single-season points record list. Yesenia Luces, a three-time All-American who played for Ohio State from 2004-07, sits in 10th, after scoring 44 points (13g, 18a) in 2005.
