Junior goalkeeper Avery Steinlage pounds the ground with his fist after Ohio State score a goal Sunday at Old College Field. The Spartans lost to the Buckeye’s 1-0. It was the fifth straight time the Buckeyes have defeated the Spartans.
For the fifth straight time, No. 26 Ohio State got the better of the No. 22 MSU men’s soccer team.
In Sunday’s conference opener at DeMartin Stadium at Old College Field, the Buckeyes scored the game’s lone goal in the 17th minute and were able to hold off a constant offensive bombardment by the Spartans in the second half to sneak out with a 1-0 win.
After recording only five shots in the first half, the Spartans doubled their offensive production in the second, recording 10 shots, including one that hit the crossbar.
“I don’t know in the second half if the soccer gods were with us as far as a bounce here or a bounce there,” MSU head coach Damon Rensing said. “I thought in the second half we created a lot of quality chances. We forced the issue and we were really unfortunate not to get a tying goal.”
As expected with the intensity of Big Ten games, the game got chippy, featuring a total of 35 fouls, seven yellow cards and an ejection.
But junior midfielder Jeff Ricondo expected things to get physical, especially with both teams trying to make a statement in the first conference game of the year.
“Every Big Ten game is going to be a battle,” Ricondo said. “Emotions got loose out there for awhile. But it’s a conference game and everyone’s on tilt.”
The Spartans (4-2-1 overall, 0-1-0 Big Ten) had two golden scoring opportunities in the first five minutes of the game.
The first came on a corner kick, 10 seconds in. Senior defender Tim Granaderos joined in on the attack and elevated for a header, making solid contact but just missing the right post.
Four minutes later, Ricondo received a pass from junior midfielder Spencer Thompson and tried to chip it over Ohio State goalkeeper Matt Lampson, but the ball ended up hitting Lampson in the head and stayed out of the net.
The Spartans offense fizzled out for the rest of the first half and the Buckeyes got on the board in the 17th minute off a volley from a sharp angle from midfielder Sam Scales.
“We weren’t playing our game in the first half,” junior goalkeeper Avery Steinlage said. “We were trying to absorb what they were doing and not trying to impose our will. We have to take our hats off to them; they made a great play on that goal. It was a tremendous shot. The ball was dipping and bending right into the side netting.”
The intensity level picked up for the Spartans in the second half as they looked for the equalizer.
Sophomore forward Domenic Barone had the best scoring chance of the afternoon with seven minutes left. Barone received a pass from sophomore forward Rubin Bega just inside the 18-yard box, but missed his shot high.
With 30 seconds left, Granaderos made a run up the right side of the field and tried to play a cross into the mixer. But his cross was off target and instead grazed the top of the crossbar.
“I wish I could have it back and I wish I would have crossed it on the ground,” Granaderos said. “I’ll be thinking about that tonight, trust me.”
None of the Spartans on the current roster ever have beat Ohio State, and, being the team’s lone senior, Granaderos hopes they will get another shot at the Buckeyes.
“I’ve never beat Ohio State and I hate to say that,” Granaderos said. “I really wanted this one and I’ve been thinking about it for a while now. It’s so disappointing to walk off the field with a loss. But there’s no way to look at it other than we will get them back in the Big Ten Tournament.”
The Spartans will return to action against Valparaiso at 4 p.m. Wednesday at DeMartin Stadium at Old College Field.
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