Ohio State men fall to Northwestern

EVANSTON, Ill. – Joshua Breto erased the shutout and two-goal deficit, but the No. 15-ranked Ohio State men’s soccer team fell to Northwestern, 2-1, Sunday afternoon at a hot and sun-soaked Lakeside Field. The loss snaps a four-game unbeaten streak for the Buckeyes, dropping their record to 6-3-2 overall and 2-1-0 in the conference, while the Wildcats are now 6-4-1 on the season and 1-1-0 in the Big Ten.

The match will be aired on the Big Ten Network beginning at 5 p.m. (ET) with Dan Kelly and Daryl Shore calling the action.

"You have to give credit to Northwestern and the way they played today," John Bluem, Ohio State head coach said. "They came onto the field ready to play and were able to take advantages of our weaknesses to put two goals on the board. As a team, we did not do what we needed to do or play the way we are capable of playing and that will hurt you at this point in the Big Ten schedule."

The Wildcats struck first, scoring in the 38th minute. Reed Losee collected a pass from Matt Eliason 20 yards out and sent a chip shot over the head of Buckeye keeper Matt Lampson and beyond the reach of defender David Tiemstra who made a valiant effort to stop the ball as it dropped into the far left side of the net.

From there, the half would close with little action for either side and the Buckeyes were forced to head into the intermission trailing for the first time of the 2010 season.

A renewed team seemed to take the field at the start of the second, however,as Ohio State fired the first three shots of the stanza over the course of eight-plus minutes, but it was Northwestern that found the back of the net next.

Wildcat Piero Bellizzi played the ball through to Oliver Kupe, who finished it off late in the 60th minute to stretch the Wildcats’ lead to 2-0 at the 59:58 mark.

Again, the Buckeyes appeared to find a spark though and controlled action for the next seven minutes of play, tallying four shots and four corner kicks in the stretch. Konrad Warzycha launched two high and Omar Vallejo and Austin McAnena each had their attempts saved by Wildcat keeper Drew Kotler, who finished the day with three saves, all coming in the second half.

Ohio State’s efforts eventually paid off, however, as Chris Hegngi earned his team-leading third assist when he played Breto the ball for the junior forward to finish far post to cut the Buckeyes’ deficit in half midway through the 80th minute.

The Buckeyes pushed forward for the remainder of the contest with several close opportunities, including a near equalizer from Breto early in the 86th minute that was saved by Kotler.

The Buckeyes finished with a 14-10 shot advantage and a narrow 6-5 lead in corners.

Ohio State returns to the Windy City to take on UIC at 7 p.m. (8 p.m. ET) Wednesday. The Flames are 3-7 on the season after falling to Butler in overtime Saturday.