Nov. 22, 2015



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COLUMBUS, Ohio – Survive and advance. The ninth-seeded Ohio State men’s soccer team advanced past in-state rival Dayton after a 4-3 finish in a penalty shootout in a 1-1 double overtime draw Sunday at Bert L. & Iris S. Wolstein Field at Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium. The Buckeyes (13-6-3) will now travel to face No. 8 seed Stanford at 8 p.m. ET Sunday in the third round of the 2015 NCAA Men’s Soccer Division I Championship.

“It was everything we expected from Dayton,” head coach John Bluem said. “They’re a very good team. I want to congratulate them on the great season that they had and on the great game they played today. I watched them Thursday night when they beat Oakland in penalty kicks to advance to this game. The fight and spirit in their team was tremendous. We knew it was going to be a very difficult game today. When you get to penalty kicks you don’t know what is going to happen but we have a lot of confidence in Chris Froschauer to come up with a save or two and he did.”

Froschauer, a senior transfer from Dayton, made seven stops vs. his former team, including two saves in the penalty shootout. During penalties, both teams converted their first two attempts to start. Following a save by Froschauer, Senior CLASS Award Finalist Zach Mason put the Buckeyes ahead, 3-2, after three rounds. However, Dayton keeper Justin Saliba rebounded quickly with a stop to tie it at 3-all after four rounds. But in the fifth round following a conversion by senior Kyle Culbertson, Froschauer, the Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year, denied Carlos Sendin to claim the 4-3 thrilling finish.

“It was definitely an exciting game and we have a lot of respect for them,” Froschauer said. “I played for them for three years so I obviously know a lot of the guys really well. It’s tough to see them kind of down after the game but at the same time it’s great to carry my team on from here.”

The shootout marks the second-consecutive year Ohio State has advanced in the tournament following PKs. Last year, Ohio State advanced to the second round following an epic 15-round shootout vs. Akron (OSU won, 13-12).

Down 1-0 midway through the second half, Danny Jensen, a 2015 Second Team All-Big Ten selection, received a header from Abdi Mohamed at midfield and broke away from the UD defense to send in his sixth goal of the year into the back of left of net at 72:30 to it at 1-all.

“I was sort of out of position,” Jensen said. “It fortunately bounced right over their last defender. I ran out from kind of an awkward angle and I actually had an angle because I was out of position. I took it off my chest and I knew if I hit it below the crossbar it would go in.”

The game remained tied for the final 18 minutes of regulation to force overtime. Dayton had the best look at a game-winner in extra time when Amass Amankona ripped a shot off the crossbar in the 102nd minute.

After a slow start to the game that saw two Flyers headers miss just wide, the first half was one of missed opportunities for the Buckeyes. A penalty kick in the ninth minute for Liam Doyle was denied Saliba. Doyle’s attempt was a low shot intended for the right corner but was blocked and rebounded out to the top of the six with no opportunity for a second shot.

Just a minute after entering the game in the 38th, Jacob Duska found himself crashing the net and was able to one-time the low cross from inside the six-yard box. However, the shot caromed off the bottom of the cross bar and bounced just in front of the goal line before being cleared out by the Dayton defense. Marcus McCrary also had a good look from 10 yards out in the 30th minute, but was saved by Saliba.

Dayton took a 1-0 lead in the 50th minute when Maik Schooderwoerd scored on a header on a near cross by Alex Amankwaah.

Overall, shots were 17-12 in favor of the Flyers, while Dayton had a 7-6 edge in corners. Ohio State is now 10-2-2 at home in 2015.

“They’ve earned the right to play all these games at home by being the number one seed in the Big Ten and by being the Big Ten champions,” Bluem said. “The number one seed gave us a couple more home games. I think we’ve been at home nine of the last 10 games. We’re very good here. We’re difficult to beat and the guys are confident when we play here.”