Oct. 24, 2008
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - The Purdue women's soccer team moved one step closer in the race for the Big Ten title Friday night at the Varsity Soccer Complex. The Boilermakers defeated Ohio State 3-0 on the strength of three first half goals and some solid defense in the second half.
Freshman Lauren Montenegro, senior Felicia Schroeder and junior Loredana Riverso were the scorers for Purdue, each netting their goals in very different fashions.
After Ohio State controlled the first few minutes of the match, Montenegro capitalized on an early look for her second goal of the season. In the 8th minute, Riverso dribbled the ball towards the center of the penalty box near the 18-yard line, but dished out to Montenegro for the shot. The Diamond Bar, Calif. native was locked and loaded for a clean look and put the Boilermakers up 1-0.
Nearly 20 minutes later, Schroeder took advantage of a corner kick to stun the Buckeyes once more. Freshman Kellie Phillips took the corner from the left side of the field and Schroeder was there for the header. She was standing near the left post, but sent the header through the right side for her seventh goal of the year.
Riverso put the game away early when she scored in the 40th minute on a play similar to the Montenegro goal. Once again, Riverso was dribbling from the left side of the box into the middle, but this time unleashed a shot from 20 yards that sailed past Buckeye goalkeeper Katie Baumgardner. The goal gave Riverso four points for the match, the second time this season she has reached that plateau.
Ohio State outshot Purdue 15-10 and also had a 5-1 advantage in corner kicks. The Boilermakers stayed aggressive and were opportunistic when they had to be, though.
"We certainly didn't create the number of opportunities that you would expect it would take to score three goals, but we put ourselves in a position to win," coach Rob Klatte said.
"We didn't coast in the second half, either. It was hard work. We worked a lot in practice this week on finishing off matches and we were able to hold them the last 45 minutes without too many point-blank chances."
Redshirt junior goalkeeper Jenny Bradfisch finished the match with five saves and redshirt sophomore Carianne Betts notched one save in 22 minutes of action. The back line of sophomores Jessica Stellhorn and Liz Secue and juniors Sylvia Forbes and Katie Seeger was also on point tonight, thrwarting away any serious threats the Buckeyes mounted.
Purdue (11-4-3) looks to keep this momentum going into a huge match-up on Sunday against No. 21 Penn State. First kick is slated for noon at the Varsity Soccer Complex. The Boilermakers trail the Nittany Lions by one point, with Penn State's Friday night match at Illinois yet to be completed.