Around the Oval is Eleven Warriors' weekly love letter to Ohio State sports that don't get the coverage they should.
Jensen delivers game winner
Another week, another dominant performance by the Buckeyes football team. Meanwhile, the fútbol team closed out their home schedule in thrilling fashion. On senior night at Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium, the Ohio State men's soccer team knocked off No. 9 Penn State 1-0 in double-overtime. After just over 107 scoreless minutes, freshman forward Danny Jensen broke the tie off an assist from midfielder Max Moller to give the Buckeyes the victory. The goal by Jensen was his third of the season, tied for the team's lead with Ryan Ivancic.
Alex Ivanov was also stellar in goal, making 5 saves to post his fourth consecutive shutout. Ivanov's efforts earned him Big Ten defensive player of the week honors. Ivanov has now saved a whopping 89.6% of opposing shots this season and has quickly become one of the top goalies in the Big Ten.
With the win over the Nittany Lions, the Buckeyes move to 5-6-5 overall, winning their first Big Ten game of the season. Needless to say, head coach John Bluem was pleased with the outcome.
"We've been asking these guys for four or five games now to give us everything they got and just lay it out there. You thought we were national champions tonight and it's a win we can build from knowing we have to do well in the Big Ten Tournament to build toward our postseason hopes." - Head Coach John Bluem
The Buckeyes wrap up their regular season on Friday at Wisconsin, before hosting the Big Ten tournament on November 13-17.
Join us after the jump to see how the other Ohio State sports teams fared this past week.
Cross Country
The men's and women's cross country teams competed in the Big Ten championships this past weekend in West Lafayette, with the women finishing fifth and the men finishing eighth.
Junior Michelle Thomas, All-Big TenThe fifth place finish by the women was their best in 29 years. The Lady Buckeyes were led by top-10 finishers Michelle Thomas (4th place, 21:04.1) and Katie Borchers (6th, 21:07.2). With the strong performances Thomas and Borchers earned first-team All-Big Ten honors, becoming the third and fourth in school history to earn such honors. Also placing for the Lady Buckeyes were Nicole Hilton (49th, 22:16.2), Sakiko Minagawa (51st, 22:18.7) and Helen Willman (59th, 22:29.9).
For the men, the eighth place finish matched their performace from last year. The Buckeyes were led by sophomore Nick Pupino, who finished 28th overall with a time of 25:05.2. Also scoring for Ohio State were Brian Hannaford (30th, 25:09.3), Curtis Hanle (40th, 25:19.8), Jordan Redd (43rd, 25:23.0) and Michael Bradjic (49th, 25:27.4).
Both teams are off for a couple of weeks, before traveling to the NCAA Great Lakes Regional Championships in Madison, Wisconsin.
Field Hockey
On Friday, the Buckeyes lost their regular season finale to No. 12 Northwestern, 5-0. With the loss, Ohio State finishes the regular season with a record of 5-12, and an especially disappointing 0-6 record in Big Ten play.
Sarah Lemieux and Sydney Stype saw action in goal in the loss, while Mona Frommhold led the Buckeyes offensively with four shots on goal. The Buckeyes were only out-shot 12-9, and held a 5-4 advantage on corner shots.
Ohio State will face the Wildcats again in the first round of the Big Ten tournament on November 7th.
Women's Soccer
This past Saturday, the Lady Buckeyes concluded their regular season with a 2-0 loss in Ann Arbor to the Wolverines. With the loss, Ohio State failed to qualify for the Big Ten tournament as the Buckeyes currently stand at 10-6-3 overall and 4-5-2 in Big Ten Play.
After a scoreless first half, Michigan broke the tie in the 60th minute with a goal by Shelly Chambers-Garcia, before extending their lead to 2-0 12 minutes later with a goal from Nkem Ezurike. The Lady Buckeyes fell to their rivals despite out-shooting Michigan 19-10.
Yesterday, Megan Fuller and Nichelle Prince capped off strong seasons by being recognized as second team All-Big Ten performers. Prince was also named to the All-Freshman team, along with Alexis Degler.
The Buckeyes failed to qualify for the Big Ten tournament, but will learn if they will be participating in any postseason tournaments on Sunday, when the NCAA holds its selection show at 4:30 on NCAA.com.
UPCOMING Home EVENTS
Thursday: Field Hockey vs. Northwestern (Big Ten Tournament), Buckeye Varsity Field, Time TBA
Friday: Women's Volleyball vs. Indiana, St. John Arena, 7 pm
Men's Ice Hockey vs. Niagara, Schottenstein Center, 7:05 pm
Women's Ice Hockey vs. Bemidji State, OSU Ice Rink, 7:07 pm
Saturday: Women's Swimming vs. Ohio, McCorkle Aquatic Pavillion, 1 pm
Women's Ice Hockey vs. Bemidji State, OSU Ice Rink, 4:07 pm
Women's Volleyball vs. Purdue, St. John Arena, 7 pm
Men's Ice Hockey vs. Niagara, Schottenstein Center, 8:05 pm
Sunday: Women's Basketball vs. Florida Atlantic, Value City Arena, 2 pm
