A B1G match-up: Women’s soccer falls to Ohio State

Women’s soccer (2–3 overall, 0–0 Ivy League) traveled to Columbus, Ohio this past week to face a worthy Big Ten opponent: No. 8 Ohio State University (4–1, 0–0 Big Ten). Early OSU goals set the tone for the first half, but a formation change at halftime kept the Buckeyes at bay during open play in the second. 

The game began under Princeton’s possession and the Tigers immediately pressed forward. Junior forward Dylan Jovanovic carried the attack up the right, but faced constant pressure by the Buckeyes’ defense who, then, earned a goal kick to launch their first counterattack. 

A Buckeyes midfielder shot up the right sideline before cutting in, evading the Tiger defense. She then passed to a Buckeyes forward, who made a dangerous cross that met her teammate, who sent the ball into the back of the net.

Just 45 seconds into a 90-minute game, Ohio State had scored, taken the lead, and looked determined to avoid relinquishing it. 

The OSU offensive momentum continued. An attack first initiated by another goal kick, but quickly played over the top, allowed Ohio State to penetrate Princeton’s midfield. After some short, controlled passes on the left, the Buckeyes switched the field, moving the ball to the right.

A Buckeyes forward took a few steps before lobbing the ball just left of senior goalkeeper Cecilia Cerone’s reach and into the side net. The Buckeyes had added another point to the scoreboard before the 10-minute mark, now leading 2–0.

“They’re efficient with the ball, and … they’re exceptional in terms of creating channels to play into on the flank … very difficult to break down,” head coach Sean Driscoll told The Daily Princetonian. 

Ohio State demonstrated impressive control of the field. Starting from a goal kick and transitioning to the attack quickly set up a Buckeyes forward to cross the ball across the goalfront. The ball was deflected off of sophomore defender Julia Johnson at first, but the Buckeyes forward received the rebound and passed the ball to her teammate in the center, who controlled the pass and sent it past Cerone to make the score 3–0.

Halftime resulted in a formation shift for the Tigers from their starting 4–3–3 to 4–4–2, and placing junior goalkeeper Sydney Romano in goal. 

“It was a pretty spirited halftime … we felt we hadn’t really competed at the level we were capable of, largely due to the early goal against us that rattled us,” Driscoll told the ‘Prince.’ 

Throughout the second half, Princeton’s performance improved drastically, both offensively and defensively. In the first half, the Tigers only took one shot, compared to Ohio State’s 13; within the first 15 minutes of the second half, Princeton had already taken five shots. Close, early runs from first-year defender Mariana Gomez, sophomore midfielder Anna Chau, and a close rebound opportunity from first-year forward Gianna Camporeale showed a team reinvigorated and hungry to score. 

“We had nothing to lose at this point. We just wanted to go in and do our best and do whatever we could to put up a fight,” Romano recalled.

Additionally, the Tigers managed to keep Ohio State scoreless in open play throughout the 45 minutes, despite continued pressure from the Buckeyes. There were many threatening moments, including a 1-on-1 between Romano and an OSU forward in the 69th minute, but the Tigers’ defense maintained their confidence and kept another goal from actualizing.

“The intense pressure that we put on them in that second half was really what helped make the game so much closer,” Romano said. “We didn’t just let them play their game, but we let us bring our game to them. We had a lot more intensity in our defense that really put them on their toes and put the game back onto their half.”

A penalty kick goal in the final 42 seconds of the match put Ohio State up 4–0. The Buckeyes had earned a notable victory on their Senior Day.

For a team who was only able to start training on Aug. 7, facing a ranked Big Ten team less than a month later was no easy task. Still, the Tigers showed determination and grit. 

“I thought the second half we competed from start to finish and gave a better account of ourselves,” Driscoll told the ‘Prince.’ “It was a marked improvement over the first half.”

This is only the second time these teams have faced each other. Last year, when the Buckeyes came to Roberts Stadium, they managed a 4–1 win, largely a result of Princeton not maintaining their energy from the first half to the second; this year, the Tigers faced the opposite fate, only finding their energy in the second half.

“We like to play against the best competition we can,” Driscoll said when asked about the goals of early, non-conference games like this one. “[Our] ultimate objective was to get a result on the road, and we had high hopes, of course. We learned a lot about ourselves, and that’s also what these games are about.”

Siena Sydenham is a Sports contributor for the ‘Prince.’

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