Ohio (5-8) lost to Penn State (7-6) by a score of 5-0 Sunday afternoon in Athens. Ohio was held scoreless for the fourth time this season as the offense was relatively stagnant. In what has started to become a common theme in these past few games, Ohio's offense struggled to put up any points while the opponent's offense relentlessly attacked Ohio's goal.
"Our turnovers were unnecessary at some points," Ohio coach Ally Johnstone said. "We got a little too close to them, so we made it a little bit easier for them to make a tackle."
Both sides of the Ohio team struggled mightily in the first half of the first quarter. Not even four minutes into the quarter, Penn State had scored two goals, one from forward Ella Jennes and the other from forward Aubrey Semler.
Ohio's offense and defense couldn't get much going as Penn State instantly ran up the score and was able to control the game from there.
Ohio's defense stepped up in the second quarter. They held Penn State scoreless again, but Ohio also went scoreless again, unable to get over the hump of letting those first two goals go in.
"After those first two goals, they're pretty fearless," Johnstone said.
Ohio held Penn State forward Sophia Gladieux, one of the better forwards in collegiate field hockey, to only one goal, which shows how impressive this defense is.
"It's giving the courage to the backs to just go in and be as strong as possible," Johnstone said. "It's an incredible opportunity for them to play against world-class here."
With the score still 2-0 in favor of Penn State, the defense started to show cracks in the third quarter. Penn State would score two more goals in the third quarter.
"We used to be really good in the second half, but now we kind of fade away in the third quarter," Johnstone said. "We need to fix our third quarter because it's been a few games now."
With Ohio entering the last quarter of play being down 4-0, it needed a miracle to happen to make a comeback. That miracle did not come and Penn State scored a minute into the final quarter. This would be the last score of the game as both teams took shots at each other's goals for the remaining 14 minutes until the horn blew. Ohio was held scoreless and Penn State won by 5 points.
"We used today to work on a different press," Johnstone said. "We know there's going to be a little bit of work like holes and gaps that we need to fix."
With Ohio trying out new presses this game, they look to take these new strategies into their next game against Mid-American Conference opponent Kent State.
