In what can only be described as 200 or so crazy minutes, the Ohio State men's soccer team finally produced the results they were crying out for in this early stage of the season.
Hosting the Bert and Iris Wolstein Classic, the Buckeyes first lined up against Coastal Carolina on Friday night at Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium. The biggest change for the Buckeyes was in net - sophomore goalkeeper Alex Ivanov replacing his junior counterpart Alex Wimmer.
The first half of the Bucks' opener didn't amount to much. A few chances for the Chanticleers - and no shots on goal for the hosts - failed to excite the 722 spectators into any sort of frenzy.
After the interval, though, some life entered the match. Both sides came into the match without a win, and their collective desperation began to provide moments of inspiration.
Coastal's midfield stalwart Pedro Ribeiro proved to be a menace to many of the opponents. His slalom forays into the Ohio State half continually featured him shrugging off the challenges of one defender after another. It was from a corner, though, that the number 10 conjured up he most audacious of shots on goal. With his back to the net, he met a low cross with the heel of his left foot, and luckily for the goalkeeper Ivanov it just cleared the crossbar.
As the Chants pressure intensified, the opening goal finally arrived on 77 minutes - but they were the ones conceding it. Ohio State fullback Alex Bujenovic found some space and unleashed a fine drive with his left foot, the ball taking a deflection off a defender's back and wrong footing the goalkeeper Bertele. It may not have been something their play deserved, but the Buckeyes had their first home goal of the season.
However, the lead was short lived. Only two minutes later, an Ashton Bennett cross was turned home by Coastal forward Ricky Garbanzo, and the scores were level. What ensued in the closing staged was nothing short of extraordinary.
With only two minutes to play, some neat passing between Buckeye forwards sent Chris Hegngi through on goal and as he rounded the goalkeeper Bertele he was bundled over. A clear penalty, and not only did Ohio State have a chance to win the match, Coastal also found themselves down to 10 men and having to field their reserve keeper Scott Shewfelt.
But to this credit, the man between the sticks held his ground, and denied Hegngi his first goal of the campaign with a marvelous save low to his left. The drama didn't end there, though. With the final seconds literally winding down Joshua Breto squared the ball to Sebastian Rivas in the area, and his goal-bound shot was cleared off the line by Coastal defender Kjartan Sigurdsson. An unlucky end for the Buckeyes, and this match headed to overtime.
Much like the beginning of the game, overtime provided little excitement, and both teams claimed a draw, the first result of the season for the Buckeyes.
In Ohio State's second game against Davidson they had to pull off a quite remarkable turnaround to win the Wolstein Classic for a second straight year.
Falling behind to a first half header from Andrew Dilallo and a second half free kick from Luke Blades, the hosts afternoon went from bad to worse when forward Yianni Sarris - having just come off the bench - was sent off for violent conduct. Any chance of a comeback seemed remote.
The Scarlet and Gray fightback began with an 80th minute header from Rivas, straight from a Adam Gorski throw-in. Then merely five minutes later the turnaround was complete - Alex Bujenovic matching his strike from two nights before with a spectacular freekick into the top corner of the Wildcat net.
Cue wild celebrations at the Jesse, and the Ohio State hunt for a winner went into top gear, but to no avail. Overtime would be the solution again.
Only this time it didn't end in a draw, and luck was on the Buckeyes side as their opponents proceeded to create their own downfall.
With the ball crossed into the six yard box by a Buckeye attacker, a few bounces and a bit of miscommunication Kenny Cunningham's attempted shot being deflected into his own net by a Davidson defender. Ohio State had their first win of the season, and and undefeated weekend to boot. Now with a double header in San Diego, the men from Columbus will see if these two results are indicative of their talent, and not just some fluke.
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