Around the Oval on Wednesday, September 18

Around the Oval is Eleven Warriors' weekly love letter to Ohio State sports that don't get the coverage they should.

  
Sophomore Jordan Redd

The football Buckeyes won again this week this week to move to 3-0 on the season, but they weren’t the only Ohio State team that remained undefeated this week.  The men’s cross country team ran away with the Big Ten Preview this past Friday behind five top 10 finishers.

Led by sophomore Jordan Redd, the Buckeyes won their second meet in as many events this season.  Redd, the top Ohio State runner for the second straight meet, finished the 8k event in a personal best time of 24:50.9, good enough for second place in the meet.  Also finishing in the top 10 for the Bucks were Brian Hannaford (3rd, 24:53.8), Nick Pupino (4th, 24:55.2), Curtis Hanle (7th, 25:10.6) and Blake Taneff (10th, 25:15.4).

Associate head coach Brice Allen was very pleased with the effort, saying "the guys ran well as a pack and executed the race perfectly."

With the top 5 Buckeyes finishing withing 25 seconds of each other, the Bucks certainly ran well as a pack.

Ohio State men's cross country is off until October 4th, when they travel to South Bend for the Notre Dame Invitational.

The women's cross country team also had a great weekend, finishing second at the Big Ten Preview.  They were led by top-10 finishers Michelle Thomas and Katie Borchers.  They are also off until the October 4th Notre Dame Invitational.

Join us after the jump to learn about another undefeated Ohio State team, and a few others that are off to scorching starts as well.

Field Hockey

The Lady Buckeyes field hockey team suffered a pair of hard-fought road losses to top-10 opponents this past week to fall to 2-4 on the season.  The two losses put Ohio State in a three game losing streak, with all losses being by one goal.

Lemieux was nearly flawless in defeat

On Saturday, the Lady Bucks lost 1-0 to 7th-ranked Massachusetts despite stellar goalkeeping from junior Sarah Lemieux.  After a scoreless first half, UMass took the lead with a goal in the 44th minute.  The Buckeyes had a chance to tie around the 60th minute, when they attempted and missed three shots in three minutes.

On Sunday, the Buckeyes lost another close match to a top-10 opponent as they fell 1-0 to 6th-ranked Syracuse.  After another scoreless first half, Syracuse scored the eventual winning goal in the 66th minute of regulation.  Sarah Lemieux was once again fantastic in goal, but the Lady Buckeye offense could not provide any help.

The Bucks showed plenty of promise in defeat that they hope to build on.  They travel to Miami (Ohio) tonight before heading to Kent (Ohio) to take on Kent State next Tuesday.

Men's Soccer

The Ohio State men's soccer team tied both of their games this week, moving to an even 2-2-2 on the season.

On Friday the Buckeyes battled Bowling Green to a scoreless draw, despite being out-shot by the Falcons 35-12.  Similarly to the field hockey team, the Bucks had excellent goalkeeping from junior Alex Ivanov, but couldn't muster much of anything on offense, with only two shots on goal.  Despite the loss, the Buckeyes displayed great poise against a senior-heavy team in front of a road crowd of 3,000.

Yesterday, the Buckeyes once again played to a draw, this time against Wright State.  While head coach John Bluem was not happy with the outcome, he was pleased that his team "came to battle and [kept] fighting against some tough circumstances."

The "tough circumstances" were the Buckeyes being one man down for the first 41 minutes of the game.  Once again, Alex Ivanov was solid in goal until receiving a red card in the 69th minute.  Ivanov's replacement, junior Andrian McAdams was superb as well, with a diving save in the 106th minute to save the game for the Buckeyes.

With the loss, Ohio State has been shut out three games in a row, something that must change for the Buckeyes to start winning some games.  Ohio State hosts Dayton on Friday, before traveling to Akron on Tuesday.

Women's Soccer

The women's soccer team went 2-0 this week, with wins over Central Michigan (2-0) and St. John's (1-0).  Against Central Michigan, Ellyn Gruber led the way with a goal and an assist, with Danica Wu scoring the other goal.  The Lady Buckeyes outshot the Chippewas 25-8 in an overall dominant effort.

Nichelle Prince scored the lone goal in the 1-0 win over St. John's.  The goal was her fifth and leads the team.  Goalkeepers Rachel Middleman and Jillian McVicker were both excellent again, combining for the Lady Bucks' fourth shutout of the season. 

With the wins, Ohio State moves to 6-1-1 on the season.  The Buckeyes open up Big Ten play this Friday when they host Illinois in their only match of the week.

GOlf

While the men's golf team was off this week, the Lady Buckeyes got their season started off to a great start with a 2nd place finish at the Mary Fossum Invitational in East Lansing (MI), finishing just four strokes behind Michigan State.  Four Buckeyes finished in the top 20, as freshman Ileen Domela led the way by shooting a 220, good enough for second place in the tournament.

Also finishing in the top 20 were Jessica Porvasnik (7th place, 223), Allison Harper (12th place, 225) and Katja Pogacar (17th place, 228).

The Lady Bucks are off this weekend, returning to action September 30th, when they travel to Chicago for the Windy City Collegiate tournament.

The men's golf team travels to Lake Forest, Illinois for the Windon Memorial this weekend.

Women's volleyball

The Lady Buckeyes volleyball team went 3-0 on the week to improve to 9-0 on the season with only three games remaining before Big Ten play.  With the victories, Ohio State captured the Sports Imports DC Koehl Classic tournament title.

On Friday, Ohio State defeated IUPUI 3-0 (25-16, 25-22, 25-22).  Junior Taylor Sherwin recorded 44 assists, while Senior Kaitlyn Leary led the way with 18 kills.  Freshman Valeria Leon matched her career high with 13 digs and fellow freshman Taylor Sandbothe led the team with four blocks.

On Saturday, the Lady Buckeyes defeated Southeast Missouri 3-1 (25-12, 20-25, 25-19, 25-13) and Xavier 3-1 (25-10, 21-25, 25-23, 25-13).  Taylor Sherwin led the way with 94 assists on the day, and was named the tournaments most outstanding player.  Sherwin's performance also earned her Big Ten setter of the week accolades.  Kaitlyn Leary added 43 total kills to lead the team.

In the latest poll, the Buckeyes remained 13th.  Ohio State heads to Buffalo (N.Y.) this weekend for the Blue and White Classic, where they will face Maryland Eastern Shore, Valparaiso and Buffalo in their final tests before Big Ten play opens.

UPCOMING EVENTS

This Friday, the women's soccer team hosts Illinois in their Big Ten opener at 5:00, with the men's soccer team hosting Dayton shortly after, at 7:30.  If your free this Friday, come out and support the soccer teams.  Students can attend for free, and everyone else can get in the gates for $5 or less.