Northwestern dropped its first game in almost three weeks after Ohio State came out swinging and the ‘Cats couldn’t recover.
After drawing their last three games against Penn State, UCLA and Indiana, the Wildcats were unable to get the points against the Buckeyes.
Though Ohio State wasn’t ranked, the game was still meaningful and challenging for both teams. Ohio State was honoring its seniors, while the ‘Cats were playing in a must-win scenario to keep their Big Ten Tournament hopes alive.
The ‘Cats
traveled to Columbus on Friday with a record of 5-5-4 while the Buckeyes were 6-6-2. Both teams entered the night in the thick of the Big Ten standings and fought to keep their respective seasons alive. Ohio State was coming off a four-game losing streak, while the ‘Cats were on a 3 game tie streak; both teams hoped to end those runs and get back into the win column.
As the match kicked off, Northwestern seemed to have a foolproof game plan. Within the first ten minutes, the ‘Cats had three shots on goal, two of them being to the bottom center of the net by Aaron O’Reilly and Tyler Glassberg. However, Buckeyes goalie Patrick McLaughlin saved all three, keeping the match at 0-0.
OSU wanted to gain some momentum of its own after the run of shots by the ‘Cats, and they did so when senior forward Ryan Hannosh fired off two shots; however, both went out right.
The score remained tied until the 24th minute, when a foul was called on first-year defender Josue Pfrommer after he shoved Hannosh from behind while receiving a pass from Andre Roberts. This foul gave the Buckeyes a penalty kick on goal. Defender Martin Wurschmidt took the kick and put it past goalie Dominic Pereira for the first goal of the night.
As the first period continued, both teams traded blows back and forth. The game became scrappy at times as both teams accumulated fouls, yet neither team scored. Both teams made multiple substitutions as the period came to a close, and that’s when the Buckeyes made their second strike.
Isaiah Chisolm, who was subbed in for Nyle Waugh in the 28th minute, made the strike when a corner kick that was deflected by the ‘Cats outside of the box was chipped by Roberts and headed by Chisolm into the net in the dying minutes of the half.
This put the Buckeyes up 2-0 going into halftime, even though the Wildcats had outshot them 8-5.
The purple and white knew they had to come out of half with energy to get their team back in a position to win. That’s exactly what they did when O’Reilly cut the lead in half with a shot assisted by Andrew Millar and Bryant Mayer.
That would be the last of the scoring action of the game, as both teams traded multiple yellow cards, two on the Buckeyes and one for the ‘Cats.
The game ended with a last-minute shot by Fritz Volmar in an attempt to tie it up for the Wildcats, but it fell short. Ohio State took the win, ending its four-game losing streak and keeping itself alive for the postseason. However, this loss ended tournament hopes for the ‘Cats, meaning they’ve got one more game of the season. Their final matchup will be at home against Wisconsin as they hope to end the season on a high note. The Wildcats haven’t won a game since Sept. 25.
