Northwestern
Ohio State
Buckeyes Rally Past Northwestern in Overtime, 2-1
10/29/2004 12:00:00 AM | Men's Soccer
Oct. 29, 2004
NU-OSU Box Score in PDF Format
Download Free Acrobat Reader
EVANSTON, Ill. -- Northwestern scored early against the best defense in the Big Ten, but it was late offense from Ohio State that allowed the Buckeyes to equalize and ultimately earn the victory, 2-1, in overtime.
With the win, Ohio State (8-5-2, 4-1-0 Big Ten) locks up the No. 2 seed for the Big Ten Tournament while Northwestern (10-4-2, 2-2-1 Big Ten) remains in third, one point ahead of Michigan State.
Both NU and MSU finish the season with matches against Wisconsin. The Spartans will play the Badgers on October 31 while the Wildcats travel to Madison November 7. A Northwestern win or a Michigan State loss would give the Wildcats a third-place Big Ten regular season finish and the No. 3 seed for the conference tournament.
NU jumped ahead early when sophomore John Carlstedt (Indianapolis, Ind./Brebeuf Jesuit) pushed in a cross from freshman David Roth (St. Louis, Mo./Chaminade) in the second minute of play.
The assist gave Roth nine for the year, tying the Northwestern single-season record.
Senior Brett Grob (Stonington, Conn./St. Stephen's) -- making his first start of the season on Senior Day -- also assisted on the goal.
Ohio State boasts the top defense in the conference, allowing 0.25 goals per game with three shutouts in conference play.
After outshooting OSU 7-6 in the first half, the Wildcats settled in to defend its one-goal lead against a feisty Buckeye club that took 11 more shots than Northwestern the rest of the way.
Ohio State was able to sneak one of those shots past NU keeper Justin Pines (Media, Pa./Strath Haven) in the 86th minute on a header during a set piece to tie the score at 1-1 and send the match to extra-time.
The Buckeyes then scored the match-winner in the 98th minute when Justin Cook spied Pines out of his box and launched the ball into the net from beyond midfield.
Pines made six saves in the match, while Buckeye keeper Ray Burse, Jr., did not make any. Carlstedt's score was the only one of NU's nine shots to find its way on goal.
Northwestern returns to action at 2 p.m. Wednesday at UIC before traveling to Wiscosin to finish out the regular season on Nov. 7.
