Sept. 28, 2005
Final Stats
COLUMBUS, Ohio - A pair of Ohio State goals in both halves lifted the tenth-ranked Buckeyes to a 4-0 victory over Ohio Wednesday in non-conference field hockey action at the North Turf Field in Columbus.
Ohio State (9-2 overall, 2-0 Big Ten) took an early lead and never looked back. The Buckeyes led by a goal at the 12:40 mark and were up two before the midway point of the first half. A pair of second-half tallies kept the Bobcats (3-6 overall, 2-0 MAC) from reaching their third-straight win.
"At times today we played well," said Ohio Head Coach Neil Macmillan. "People played some good minutes and we did some good things. It was just disappointing that we weren't able to put an entire good game together."
Yesenia Luces opened up the scoring in the first half for the Buckeyes, pushing a shot from the center past Ohio goaltender Jennifer Cote (Raynham, Mass.). Leticia Fragapane scored her first of two goals on the day at the 21:23 mark to put Ohio State up 2-0, a lead that stood into the half.
For the first half, the Bobcats were outshot 10-3, but they did equal Ohio State's three penalty corner attempts.
Out of the break, Ohio State's Lucy Clayton scored off a loose ball at the 47:31 mark and Fragapane finished off the scoring at 60:37 with her ninth goal of the season.
The Bobcats managed four penalty corners on the afternoon and limited Ohio State to three.
"At times we pressured them very well," Macmillan said. "I thought we executed our corners okay, but we just didn't get the deflections we needed."
Ohio managed three shots on goal on the day. Two came off the stick of reigning National Rookie of the Week and MAC Offensive Player of the Week Rachelle Coetzee (Bloemfontein, South Africa). The other shot on goal was credited to back Amanda Arnold (Oceanport, N.J.).
Cote, the league's MAC Defensive Player of the Week, made five saves in the cage for the Bobcats.
Ohio will now step back into MAC play, where it sits 2-0 and tied atop the standings. The Bobcats are slated to face Missouri State Saturday on the road looking to stay perfect in the conference.
"Now we're back in the MAC and we're looking to continue playing like we did last weekend," Macmillan said. "We'll be thoroughly prepared for the two games we play this weekend."
The Bobcats will finish up a six-game road trip this weekend in Missouri. Ohio will return to the field Saturday at 2 p.m. EDT against Missouri State, then move back out of the conference to face St. Louis at 2 p.m. Sunday.
