In any sport, the beginning of a season proves crucial: it can give you the impetus to sustain a successful campaign, or it can spoil your confidence so much so that the year is lost as fast as it began.
For the Ohio State Buckeyes men's soccer team, the focus will be on changing the tone of their start to the former, and not letting it slip into the latter. After two losses to start to the season - to Dayton and UIC respectively - the Buckeyes find themselves in a hole they are desperate to get out of.
In their first matchup the scarlet & gray found themselves on the road in Gem City against the Flyers. A goal each from Sebastian Rivas and Alec Lowell gave them a chance, but both goals were scored while the Bucks were two goals down.
When they returned home to Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium on Sunday they had real hopes of putting in a much better performance than they did in Dayton. The clear skies and excited crowd seemed ready for a first win of the season, but the men from the University of Illinois at Chicago had other plans.
A mere five minutes and three bounces into the game the Flames had the lead. An opportunistic strike from Ned Pavlovic gave them the crucial early advantage. A mishit from one of his teammates and an attempted block by an Ohio State defender aided in the ball sitting up perfectly for the junior forward. From that point on the Buckeyes knew they had to take the game to their guests, and they certainly began to turn the screw.
Chris Gomez saw his terrific half-volley tipped over the crossbar by Flames keeper Piotr Kikolski, the standout performer of the half. The junior was called into action again later in the first half when quick interplay between the aforementioned Rivas and Chris Hegngi lead to Rivas' low drive being deflected out for a corner. The big man in goal needed to be on his toes again when Sage Gardner's free kick almost crept in under the crossbar.
The standout chance of the first half though, went to Gardner, one of the Buckeye captains. After Austin McAnena was freed on the right side, his cross was met in front of goal by the onrushing Ohio State skipper, but he couldn't direct his header on target. If the ball had found it's way towards the frame, the outstanding Kikolski wouldn't have even had a chance. But the Buckeyes still trailed at the half.
After the interval the hosts did all they could to muster more goalscoring opportunities. But industrious moves from the likes of midfielders Zach Mason and Louie Berra were continually suppressed by the Flames defense, and the path to goal seemed to be permanently blocked.
For all the Buckeyes effort and persistence the chance never came, and it wasn't until the 82nd minute that the result was finally put beyond all doubt. Picking up the ball in the center of the park, UIC captain Ivan Stanisavljevic - their best outfield player on the day - began dribbling in the center channel, unchallenged by any Ohio State defender. As he approached the box he did the deftest of shimmies to his left before cutting back onto his right foot and fizzing a shot into the bottom of Alex Wimmer's net.
The goal left the entire stadium with no doubt of the result, and it also left the Buckeyes a lot to ponder before they host Coastal Carolina on Friday.
