Ohio State’s women’s lacrosse team, ranked No. 23 in the NCAA Women’s Lacrosse RPI, scooped up a pair of home victories to open its 2023 campaign.
The Buckeyes dominated Robert Morris 18-6 before Friday before returning to the Ohio State Lacrosse Stadium and grinding out a 10-9 victory over No. 22 Temple Sunday.
Senior attacker Nicole Ferrara was the story of both contests for OSU, scoring five goals in each.
Her five against Robert Morris were a game high by a three-goal margin. She netted the final shot of a 3-0 run to open the Buckeyes’ contest against the Colonials, then after Robert Morris responded to cut the lead to 3-1, she scored four of the next five goals to open up a 9-0 OSU run to effectively put the game out of reach before halftime at 12-1.
Sophomore attacker Brynn Ammerman netted two of her own in the 12-goal victory.
Ohio State’s meeting with Temple proved much closer. A 3-0 run by the Owls in the first quarter gave them an early 4-2 lead, two of their scores coming off the stick of senior attacker Julia Schickling. Ferrara did manage to trim the deficit to 4-3 before quarter’s end, however.
Ferrara also scored to close a second quarter that featured just one goal by each team, but the momentum she generated carried through halftime for her squad. OSU came out of the break and recorded four more goals, each by a different scorer, to complete a 5-0 run and take an 8-5 advantage.
Ferrara then twice expanded Ohio State’s lead back to three after Temple cut it to two. Schickling cut it to two permanently, however, on her fourth goal of the match before teammate Amelia Wright sliced the Buckeye edge to a single score with 23 seconds to play, but OSU managed to hang on for the victory.
Off to a 2-0 start to the season, the Buckeyes travel to San Diego, Calif. to take on San Diego State Friday.
