Sept. 26, 2013

Columbus, Ohio

Bert L. & Iris S. Wolstein Field at Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium

Ohio State 3 (7-1-2, 1-0-1 Big Ten); Indiana 1 (8-1-1, 1-1-0 Big Ten)

Attendance: 371

COLUMBUS, Ohio – The Ohio State women’s soccer team topped Indiana, 3-1, Thursday afternoon at Bert L. & Iris S. Wolstein Field at Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium. With the win, the Buckeyes improve to 7-1-2 on the season, 1-0-1 in the Big Ten, while the Hoosiers drop to 8-1-1, 1-1-0 in conference play.

Ohio State took the early 1-0 lead less than four minutes in when Kayla Varner finished through traffic from 10 yards off a corner from Danica Wu for her second goal of the season.

The Buckeyes then pushed the lead to 2-0 in the 18th minute when Nichelle Prince finished a 1-on-1 opportunity past Hoosier goalkeeper Shannon Flower off a beautiful through ball from Michela Paradiso. The goal marked Prince’s team-high sixth goal of the season.

Wu almost pushed the lead to 3-0 five minutes later but her shot from 15 yards out narrowly drifted wide right.

Alexis Degler added another for Ohio State in the 40th minute when she tracked down a long ball from Taylor Schissler, took one touch and finished far post to push the lead to 3-0 at the end of the half.

Indiana held a 10-5 advantage in shots over the first 45 minute but Ohio State led 3-2 in shots on goal and 2-0 in corners.

The Hoosiers cut the Buckeye lead to 3-1 in the 66th minute when Rebecca Candler found a wide-open Abby Smith in the middle of the box and Smith finished far post from 10 yards for her fourth goal of the year.

However, that would be as close as the Hoosiers would get as the Buckeyes handed Indiana its first loss of the season.

For the game, Indiana held a 16-12 advantage in shots but the Buckeyes put eight on goal compared to four for the Hoosiers.

Ohio State welcomes Purdue at 1 p.m. Sunday.