Oct. 24, 2010
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WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - Jessica Warren knocked in a first-half corner kick to give Purdue women's soccer a halftime lead, but No. 17 Ohio State scored twice in the second half to rally back and defeat the Boilermakers, 2-1, Sunday afternoon at the Varsity Soccer Complex.
Ohio State's Paige Maxwell scored the equalizer in the 54th minute, her team-leading ninth goal of the year.
The game-winner was a soft goal off a long throw-in from the east sideline in the 87th minute. Tiffany Cameron got her head on Ally Walker's throw-in for a diagonal flick. The Purdue defense was late to react and the ball rolled into the left side of the net. The go-ahead goal was very similar to the equalizer Purdue (6-10-2, 2-5-1 Big Ten) surrendered in its Oct. 14 loss at Michigan.
Warren scored her second goal of the season and fifth career in the 18th minute, burying a shot into the left side of the net after Liz Secue flicked a Kellie Phillips corner kick. Phillips recorded her 16th career assist on the score.
Maxwell's equalizer was scored from 20 yards out in the center of the field. The forward maintained possession while dribbling around a pair of Purdue player and blasted a shot inside the right post.
"I thought we had really good energy and in the first half we gave a great competitive effort," Purdue head coach Robert Klatte said. "But in the second half one of our weaknesses, lack of depth, started to show. Ohio State (13-3-1, 7-1 Big Ten) started having the run of play over the final 30 minutes of the half. We were still dangerous in moments but not enough to get quality shots on frame.
"I thought we made some crucial mistakes at the wrong times, diving in on a player (Maxwell) and giving her a free shot from 20 yards out. And not being able to deal with a simple long throw-in, neither the initial throw or the bouncing ball and player in the box. When you make multiple mistakes in a row that tends to be how goals are scored and certainly we were punished for it."
Four goalkeepers saw action in the contest. Carianne Betts made six saves in 86 minutes for Purdue. She had to leave the field for a short time in the first half due to an issue with her contact lenses. Clara Kridler replaced Betts for a short time and successfully grabbed a left-to-right cross to end an OSU rush up the field.
Betts nearly scored a goal in the 24th minute. She took a Purdue free kick from the west sideline in front of the Ohio State bench. The long ball squirted through the hands of OSU goalkeeper Rachel Middleman but defender Lauren Beachy was in position behind her goalkeeper to head the ball out of bounds.
Katie Baumgardner replaced Middleman in the 31st minute and finished out the game. Baumgardner did not have to make a save in her 59 minutes of action after Purdue did not record a shot on goal in the second half.
Betts made three quality saves in the first half to keep the Buckeyes off the scoreboard, punching an early shot by Lauren Steuer over the crossbar and leaving her feet to making a pair of diving stops on shots by Danica Wu.
But OSU also hit the crossbar twice in the game. Cameron banged a shot off the bar in the 29th minute and Maxwell hit the top left corner where the post meets the crossbar in the 56th minute.
Ohio State enjoyed a 9-2 advantage in corner kicks, holding Purdue without a corner opportunity in the second half. The Boilermakers have given up 19 corner chances in their last two games and defended all 19 successfully. But Purdue has also been held without a corner kick in the second half of each of its last two games.
The Buckeyes posted their first victory in West Lafayette since 2003. VTayler Francel, Katie Leinert, Lauren Montenegro, and Brookley Rogers went the distance among the Purdue field players. Shae Desmond logged 41 minutes to lead the reserves.
The Boilermakers return to action on Halloween (Sunday, Oct. 31) when they close out the home potion of their schedule with a game against Penn State. Kickoff is slated for noon.