OSU Women avenge loss to Iowa 81-67

All five starters for the Buckeyes finished in double figures, and thanks to a 49 point second half the OSU Women were able to turn a 1-point halftime deficit into a 14 point Victory. In just her second start of the season filling in for the injured Sarah Schulze, 6'5" Freshman Ashley Adams had a great night working the high-low post game with Jantel Lavender, she finished with 16 points, 7 rebounds and 3 assists. The Buckeyes shot uncharacteristically well from 3pt-range connecting on 9 of 21 from downtown, and held the Hawkeyes to under 40% from the field in one of their worst shooting nights of the year. Senior Jantel Lavender finished with 22 pts, 8 boards, and 6 assists and her third field goal of the game was her 1,000th of her career, making her just the second player in Big Ten history to accomplish the feat.

The Greatest University in the Land

Seriously, is there a greater athletic university in the United States? Number 1 in football and basketball in the same academic year (twice that's happened for us since the 2006-2007 year), a financially self-sustained athletic department (one of two in the country) and the best damn fans in the land. Here at Ohio State, it's safe to say, we have it all.
Name me another school where sports not only is an exciting diversion, but is a business with a revenue profit allowing for money for the athletic department to be completely paid for and for the university as an entity of higher learning to still receive loads of money from athletics. At most schools the athletic department is a deficit to the school's budget.
Name me another school to match the passion that we have here at Ohio State. Not only are our fans sport savvy, support every sport in some way and have an unmatched passion for sports; our fans know they're the best.
Name me another school with more relevant teams in more relevant and (publicly) irrelevant sports every single year. Number one in football and basketball in the same year. A Sugar Bowl victory and projected deep run in the NCAA tournament. A talented women's basketball team with one of the greatest to play the game at any university (Jantel Lavender). A baseball team with All-Big 10 honors. A hockey team that lights up the Schott with every goal and puts on a spectacular show. A wrestling team that competes with the best of the best (the Big 10 in wrestling is the cream of the crop). A track and field team that produces Olympic talent. I can do this all night.
Simply put, this university's athletic department is the greatest in the country, ran by one of the classiest men to walk this planet in Gene Smith. This university's athletic department is the best in the country, and we here at Ohio State know it. Don't believe me? There are facts to prove it. Just check the website of the athletic department, the statistics are all there.

Minn. takes 2 form OSU

Despite a never give up attitude the Ohio State women’s hockey team lost both games this weekend to fifth ranked Minnesota.

On Friday Ohio State scored 21 seconds into the game and held leads at two different times before the Gophers scored three unanswered goals in the third period to win 4-2.

Melissa Feste and Ally Tarr scored for Ohio State while Natalie Spooner picked up two assists. Tarr also got an assist on Feste’s goal.

Saturday the Buckeyes got behind the eight ball early and were never able to catch up as Minnesota skated away with an 8-1 win and a series sweep.

Spooner got Ohio State’s only goal with assists going to Hokey Langan and Laura McIntosh.

Langan returned to the lineup on Saturday after missing the last two games with an ankle injury.

Goalie Lisa Steffes was pulled for the first time in her career being replaced by fellow freshman Loren Carrier.

Carrier, seeing the first action of her young career, gave up two goals on 15 shots.

Minnesota also pulled their starting goalie, Noora Raty, after the second period giving backup Jenny Lura some playing time in the third.

Even though they were down early OSU never gave up Saturday afternoon playing perhaps their best hockey of the game in the third period.

Ohio State is now 12-12-2 (6-12-2-2 WCHA) on the season, while Minnesota is 18-6-1 (13-6-1-1 WCHA).

The series featured the last two WCHA Rookies of the Week in Ohio State’s Lisa Steffes and Minnesota’s Amanda Kessel.

Next weekend the Buckeyes travel to St. Cloud State before returning home for the final four home games of the season.

Minn. takes 2 form OSU

Despite a never give up attitude the Ohio State women’s hockey team lost both games this weekend to fifth ranked Minnesota.

On Friday Ohio State scored 21 seconds into the game and held leads at two different times before the Gophers scored three unanswered goals in the third period to win 4-2.

Melissa Feste and Ally Tarr scored for Ohio State while Natalie Spooner picked up two assists. Tarr also got an assist on Feste’s goal.

Saturday the Buckeyes got behind the eight ball early and were never able to catch up as Minnesota skated away with an 8-1 win and a series sweep.

Spooner got Ohio State’s only goal with assists going to Hokey Langan and Laura McIntosh.

Langan returned to the lineup on Saturday after missing the last two games with an ankle injury.

Goalie Lisa Steffes was pulled for the first time in her career being replaced by fellow freshman Loren Carrier.

Carrier, seeing the first action of her young career, gave up two goals on 15 shots.

Minnesota also pulled their starting goalie, Noora Raty, after the second period giving backup Jenny Lura some playing time in the third.

Even though they were down early OSU never gave up Saturday afternoon playing perhaps their best hockey of the game in the third period.

Ohio State is now 12-12-2 (6-12-2-2 WCHA) on the season, while Minnesota is 18-6-1 (13-6-1-1 WCHA).

The series featured the last two WCHA Rookies of the Week in Ohio State’s Lisa Steffes and Minnesota’s Amanda Kessel.

Next weekend the Buckeyes travel to St. Cloud State before returning home for the final four home games of the season.

Now what?

It's a question every sports fan (except for one) faces every single year: now what? In every sports league (except for College Football where there are millions of bowl games and bowl game champions) only one team ends the year on a high note and is crowned champion. So in the wake of watching my Philadelphia Flyers lose in the Stanley Cup Finals, the Phillies lose to the eventual World Series champion Giants and the Eagles lose a heart breaker to the Packers I say, "Well this, sucks..." As a sports fan, it always seems tough to move on from the end of the season. Of course, one goes over all of the cliches: "It was a good year", "We gave it a run", "Only one team comes out on top", and of course "There's always next year."

Honestly, the end of the season is never the worst part in itself. The worst part is the constant barrage of reminders that the season is over (which oddly enough usually comes from a fan of a team worse than yours). It may be a brutal occurrence, but it is a rite of passage. To survive this verbal beating makes you a true sports fan. So for the other Philadelphia fans, my Cleveland and Cincinnati sports fans I quote Tupac with, "Keep ya head up! Ooohhh child, things are gonna get easier. Ooohhh child, things will get brighter."

Buckeyes Fall Post Short of Wisconsin

The tenth ranked Ohio State women’s hockey team came within half an inch of taking the toped ranked team in the country to overtime on Saturday night.

Kelly Wild fired a hard shot in and clanked it off the top bar of the goal with the Buckeyes down one with under one minute to play. While many players and fans thought it went in, the referees did not review the play.

Wisconsin’s Hillary Knight (4 goals this weekend) then added an empty net goal to give the Badgers a 5-3 win and a series sweep after a 6-2 win on Friday night.

The Buckeyes 2 goals on Friday game both came shorthanded late in the third period when Ohio State successfully killed off a five minute Wisconsin power play.

Paige Semenza got the Bucks on the board first with a beautiful breakaway goal and 45 seconds later Hokey Langan got her twelfth of the season.

Saturday afternoon Melissa Feste scored 2 goals and Langan added her second goal of the weekend in two Buckeye comebacks that had the game tied at three in the third period.

Meghan Duggan got the game willing goal on the power play for Wisconsin 7:51 into the third.

Freshman goalie Lisa Steffes made 31 saves Friday night and another 42 on Saturday.

With the two games this weekend the Buckeyes proved they are a team that will never give up and can play with any team in the country.

--------

Congratulations go out to Laura McIntosh and Natalie Spooner who won gold with Canada, and Annie Svedin who won silver with Finland at the MLP Cup this weekend.

-------

Next weekend the Buckeyes travel to Mankato to face Minnesota State (Friday 7pm, Saturday 3pm) and then return home to face Minnesota (Jan 21 7pm, Jan 22 4pm both on SGSR).

Mike Haywood

A few weeks ago, the University of Pittsburgh hired a new coach, former Miami (Ohio) University head coach, Mike Haywood. It was a bit of big news because, as college football fans know, there are few black head coaches in college football. Haywood was hired, not for the color of his skin, but for his coaching ability.

However, the content of his character revealed that he is not fit to be a head football coach. Only 17 days after his hiring, Haywood was fired for being arrested for domestic abuse. For Haywood and the University of Pittsburgh, this is hugely embarrassing. To be fired from a job of any profession before officially starting is an oddity, but this one has been blown up because of the national prominence of college football.

Having said how horrible this is for Haywood and the university, we don't know what truly happened. We don't know the facts of what happened leading up to Haywood's arrest. All we know is that Haywood embarrassed himself, his university and his family with this slip-up.