Feb. 26, 2010

Box Score

BERKELEY - California opened its home schedule with a 19-5 loss to No. 19 Ohio State on a wet Friday afternoon at Memorial Stadium. Senior midfielder Alyse Kennedy led the 0-2 Golden Bears with two goals, while Brittney Zerhusen led everyone with eight points and Alayna Markwordt scored seven points for the 2-1 Buckeyes in the nonconference match.

The Bears now have a 3-5 record in the all-time series with the Buckeyes, who outshot Cal, 29-17. Cal junior goalkeeper Allie Shropshire made five saves, while her Ohio State counterpart, Annie Carruthers, made eight.

The game began under heavy rain and wind, but that didn't slow down Ohio State, which scored five goals in less than 10 minutes. Kelly Haggerty and Lauren Sterner scored two apiece, and Ohio State led, 5-0, at the 9:37 mark of the first half.

Kennedy scored her first at 10:30, on an assist by freshman attacker Alexa Rozelle, to make the score 5-1.

But the Buckeyes ran off six straight goals to lead 10-1 at 29:30, as the rain eventually tapered off.

Cal sophomore attacker Tara Arolla scored with six seconds remaining in the first half, and Ohio State took a 10-2 lead into the break.

The recharged Bears scored three of the first five goals in the second half, with Kennedy (30:40), sophomore midfielder Lauren Johnson (33:24) and sophomore attacker Allie Welsh (42:05) striking for Cal. The Bears were within eight goals of OSU at 13-5.

Another six-goal spree by OSU to end the game made the final score 19-5.

"Ohio State's a very good team, and we tried to really prepare for that from the beginning," Cal head coach Theresa Sherry said. "We're struggling getting draw controls, and they have a very potent attack. We had something in place to prevent assisted goals, and we just didn't follow the game plan. Once that broke down, it was one person making a mistake here and there, and that added up to spotting them a huge lead. It was too tough for us to come back from.

"We had some very nice goals once we had the ball, but we just struggled to hang onto it. That was very disappointing, and hopefully we can turn things around for Sunday."

Cal hosts No. 1 and five-time defending NCAA champion Northwestern at noon on Sunday, Feb. 28 at Memorial Stadium.

GAME SUMMARY

	         1	2	F
Ohio State	11	8	19
California	2	3	5

Ohio State Scoring
Goals: Zerhusen, Brittney 6; Markwordt, Alayna 3; Haggerty, Kelly 2; Sterner, Lauren 2; Beard, Jayme 2; Capuzzi, Gabby 1; Gysin, Lindsey 1; Wiederkehr, Rachel 1; Donahue, Kirsten 1. Assists: Markwordt, Alayna 4; Haggerty, Kelly 3; Zerhusen, Brittney 2; Smith, Maggie 1.

California Scoring
Goals: Alyse Kennedy 2; Allie Welsh 1; Lauren Johnson 1; Tara Arolla 1. Assists: Catie O'Mahoney 1; Alexa Rozelle 1; Megan Takacs 1.

Goalkeeping
Ohio State: Annie Carruthers, 8 saves, 5 GA, 60:00. California: Allie Shropshire, 5 saves, 19 GA, 60:00.

Att.: 45.