LGHL No. 10 Ohio State heads into Big Ten Women’s Soccer Tournament as the eighth seed
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No. 10 Ohio State heads into Big Ten Women’s Soccer Tournament as the eighth seed
Matt Tamanini via our friends at Land-Grant Holy Land
Visit their fantastic blog and read the full article (and so much more) here
Ohio State Athletics
Lori Walker-Hock’s Buckeyes look for their fourth all-time B1G Tournament title.
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College sports can be confusing at times. For example, the Ohio State women’s soccer team enters the postseason as the No. 10 team in the country... however, they are the eighth-seed team in the Big Ten Tournament. The top six teams all have a bye into the second round, so teams No. 7 through 10 have to play an extra game in order to win the conference crown.
Ohio State finished in a tie for seventh in the league with the Minnesota Golden Gophers after losing three of their last five games, all by one goal. Thanks to a 3-2 win at Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium earlier in October, the Gophers — who are hosting the tournament — got the benefit of the tiebreaker.
So, despite the Buckeyes being the second-highest-ranked B1G team in the national polls, they will have “No. 8” next to their name for the next two weeks as they hope to right their ship and win their fourth tournament title.
To make things even more confusing, according to the NCAA’s RPI, which factors in strength of schedule, Ohio State is No. 13 nationally. This makes them the fourth-best ranking for a Big Ten school, behind No. 5 USC, No. 9 Penn State, and No. 10 Iowa. However, in the B1G Tournament, USC is No. 1 and Iowa is No. 3 — which makes sense given their RPI ranks — however, the Nittany Lions are entering the postseason as the No. 10 seed, two spots below the Buckeyes.
So, perhaps the moral of this story is that rankings don’t tell you nearly the complete story about a team’s season, and they all become irrelevant in the postseason anyway as it becomes survive and advance for everyone.
The Buckeyes enter the postseason 11-4-3 overall and 6-3-2 against Big Ten competition, however, none of those wins or losses came against the Wisconsin Badges, who will be OSU’s first-round opponent on Thursday, Oct. 31 at 4:30 p.m. ET. The Badgers are 9-4-4 overall and 5-3-3 in the league.
Ohio State has the advantage in the all-time series against Wisconsin with a record of 13-11-8, but it is even more impressive in the B1G Tournament where OSU is 3-0 against the Badgers; granted two of those wins came before many of the players were even born (1998 and 2002), but they still count.
Unlike the Buckeyes who stumbled a bit down the stretch, Wisconsin won four of its last five matches, allowing on a single goal in those four Ws.
Coming into the postseason, the Buckeyes are led by senior forward Kailyn Dudukovich who scored her 41st career goal in the regular season finale against No. 15 Penn State, passing Tiffany Cameron to become the program’s leading goal scorer. The goal was her 16th of the season to go along with an assist, giving her a team-leading 33 points on the season for head coach Lori Walker-Hock.
The last time that these two teams met, Dudukovich scored a second-half game-winner in Madison on Oct. 15, 2023. She was assisted by Amanda Schlueter who leads the Buckeyes and the Big Ten with 10 assists this season. Schlueter has also contributed eight goals this fall, bringing her to 26 points on the campaign.
Paula Wilkins’ Badgers are led by grad student Aryssa Mahrt who has nine goals and a pair of assists to give her 20 points on the season. The only other Wisconsin player with double-digit points is senior midfielder Ashley Martinez who has done most of her damage via her seven assists that go along with her pair of goals.
You can watch first and second-round games on BTN+ with the Big Ten Network picking up coverage on Thursday, Nov. 7 with the semifinals at 2 p.m. and 4:30 p.m. ET. The Big Ten Championship Game will take place on Sunday, Nov. 10 at 12 noon ET.
Continue reading...
Matt Tamanini via our friends at Land-Grant Holy Land
Visit their fantastic blog and read the full article (and so much more) here
Ohio State Athletics
Lori Walker-Hock’s Buckeyes look for their fourth all-time B1G Tournament title.
College sports can be confusing at times. For example, the Ohio State women’s soccer team enters the postseason as the No. 10 team in the country... however, they are the eighth-seed team in the Big Ten Tournament. The top six teams all have a bye into the second round, so teams No. 7 through 10 have to play an extra game in order to win the conference crown.
Ohio State finished in a tie for seventh in the league with the Minnesota Golden Gophers after losing three of their last five games, all by one goal. Thanks to a 3-2 win at Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium earlier in October, the Gophers — who are hosting the tournament — got the benefit of the tiebreaker.
So, despite the Buckeyes being the second-highest-ranked B1G team in the national polls, they will have “No. 8” next to their name for the next two weeks as they hope to right their ship and win their fourth tournament title.
To make things even more confusing, according to the NCAA’s RPI, which factors in strength of schedule, Ohio State is No. 13 nationally. This makes them the fourth-best ranking for a Big Ten school, behind No. 5 USC, No. 9 Penn State, and No. 10 Iowa. However, in the B1G Tournament, USC is No. 1 and Iowa is No. 3 — which makes sense given their RPI ranks — however, the Nittany Lions are entering the postseason as the No. 10 seed, two spots below the Buckeyes.
So, perhaps the moral of this story is that rankings don’t tell you nearly the complete story about a team’s season, and they all become irrelevant in the postseason anyway as it becomes survive and advance for everyone.
The Buckeyes enter the postseason 11-4-3 overall and 6-3-2 against Big Ten competition, however, none of those wins or losses came against the Wisconsin Badges, who will be OSU’s first-round opponent on Thursday, Oct. 31 at 4:30 p.m. ET. The Badgers are 9-4-4 overall and 5-3-3 in the league.
Ohio State has the advantage in the all-time series against Wisconsin with a record of 13-11-8, but it is even more impressive in the B1G Tournament where OSU is 3-0 against the Badgers; granted two of those wins came before many of the players were even born (1998 and 2002), but they still count.
Unlike the Buckeyes who stumbled a bit down the stretch, Wisconsin won four of its last five matches, allowing on a single goal in those four Ws.
Coming into the postseason, the Buckeyes are led by senior forward Kailyn Dudukovich who scored her 41st career goal in the regular season finale against No. 15 Penn State, passing Tiffany Cameron to become the program’s leading goal scorer. The goal was her 16th of the season to go along with an assist, giving her a team-leading 33 points on the season for head coach Lori Walker-Hock.
The last time that these two teams met, Dudukovich scored a second-half game-winner in Madison on Oct. 15, 2023. She was assisted by Amanda Schlueter who leads the Buckeyes and the Big Ten with 10 assists this season. Schlueter has also contributed eight goals this fall, bringing her to 26 points on the campaign.
Paula Wilkins’ Badgers are led by grad student Aryssa Mahrt who has nine goals and a pair of assists to give her 20 points on the season. The only other Wisconsin player with double-digit points is senior midfielder Ashley Martinez who has done most of her damage via her seven assists that go along with her pair of goals.
You can watch first and second-round games on BTN+ with the Big Ten Network picking up coverage on Thursday, Nov. 7 with the semifinals at 2 p.m. and 4:30 p.m. ET. The Big Ten Championship Game will take place on Sunday, Nov. 10 at 12 noon ET.
Continue reading...
