Women’s Soccer: Ohio State falls 4-2 to Minnesota

Bryce Hirayama
Fri, 24 Sep 2021 02:20:09 +0000
Sports, Women's Soccer, Ariella Pitty, Bailey Kolinski, Blair Cowan, Brittany Duncan, Buckeyes, buckeyes soccer, Caitlin Foley, Chloe Delyser, Christin Baumbick, Devon Kerr, Emaly Vatne, Emma Sears, forward, goalkeeper, Haley Roberts, head coach Lori Walker-Hock, Izzy Rodriguez, Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium, Jordan Silkowitz, Kailyn Dudukovich, Kayla Fischer, Kine Flotre, Kitty Jones-Black, Lauren Brown, lori walker-hock, Maciah Lipsey, Maddy Lowe, marissa birzon, midfielder, Nina LeFlore [and 12 more]

Ohio State freshman forward Kailyn Dudukovich (21) tracks down the ball against TCU Sept. 12. Ohio State lost 4-1. Credit: Christian Harsa | Special Projects Director

Despite two goals from freshman phenom Kailyn Dudukovich, the Buckeyes were unable to keep their winning ways Thursday.

Ohio State women’s soccer (6-4) opened up its home Big Ten slate with a loss to the Minnesota Golden Gophers (5-1-3) by a score of 4-2.

Thursday’s contest was a highly-active match with both teams pushing the pace all game.

Both teams tallied a combined 24 shots, with the Buckeyes accumulating 12 shots with six on goal.

But, it was Minnesota’s tenacity on defense and relentless offense that helped it walk away with the victory.

The first score of the game came off of impressive passing in the box with both co-captain forwards senior Kayla Fischer and graduate Emaly Vatne perfectly slicing the defense to set up Dudukovich for a clean shot to take the lead 1-0 in the 16th minute.

The next goal came in the 21st minute off the foot? of Dudukovich as the Buckeyes bullied the Golden Gophers in the box following a great corner kick from senior defender Izzy Rodriguez making the score 2-0.

“In practice we have been drilling and drilling to get in goal scoring positions and today I was in the right spot,” Dudukovich said.

Minnesota answered back in the 24th minute following an errant kick from the Buckeye defense that left Minnesota’s junior forward Izzy Brown wide open for the goal to cut the lead to 2-1.

Scoring slowed down for both the Buckeyes and Golden Gophers with the next score of the game not coming until the 43rd minute of the first half.

Minnesota’s junior forward Sadie Harper found the net on a low ball that just slid underneath senior goalkeeper Bailey Kolinski to tie the game at 2-2.?

At the start of the second half, the back-and-forth aggression continued between both teams with both fighting to take the lead.?

The Golden Gophers took their first lead of the game in the 64th minute after a long free kick from senior defender Delaney Stekr flew over every player on the Buckeyes defense to find sophomore midfielder Sophia Boman all alone for the shot to make the score 3-2.

Minnesota put the game on ice in the 69th minute as Stekr found the back of the net after a corner kick set up a great opportunity for the score.

Ohio State head coach Lori Walker-Hock was displeased with how her team performed down the stretch of the game, focusing on the team’s effort.?

“You have to compete, there’s no drill I can do to make people want to compete. When life gets hard, that’s when you figure out who you are and today we were non-competitors,”? Walker-Hock said.

The Buckeyes look to bounce back after this tough loss Sunday as they travel to State College, Pennsylvania? to take on Penn State at 3 p.m.?