Summary

• Unranked Ohio State Women's Soccer advanced to the Elite Eight with wins over the University of Illinois - Chicago, No. 1 Notre Dame, and No. 23 Baylor.
• Florida State eventually beat Ohio State, 4-1, but the Buckeyes had a stellar end to the year.

Ohio State went into the NCAA tournament unranked. Bounced out of the Big Ten Tournament with a 1-0 loss to Illinois. Faced Georgia in the first round and blanked them 2-0 to advance and face one of the tournament favorites Notre Dame. The road looked like a dead end. The 2-0 win seemed destined to be a pyrrhic victory, a “at least we didn’t lose in the first round” game.

And then, against the no. 1-seeded Notre Dame, Molly Pritchard put on a performance. In 110 minutes, she made five saves, stalling one of the most notorious offenses in the country, one that assumed a goal was coming. The Fighting Irish played patient, looking for that first goal, attempting to break down a stingy Buckeye defense. Ohio St. had allowed just 11 goals all season, the backline understood the risk-reward of stretching the game. They bent, they didn’t break.

As the second overtime wound down, the game seemed destined for penalty kicks. The game rested on a coin flip, why not end in an actual showdown, the highest drama that soccer can provide?

Then Jadin Bonham entered the Ohio St. hall of legends.

With 32 seconds left, in the dying moments, the moments where fans, heart in their throats, had already started preparing for the inevitable slow agony of penalty kicks, Mia McSweeney, wide on the touch line, sent a ball in across the six-yard box line.

Sonama Kascia, Notre Dame’s goal keeper, came off her line. She missed. Bonham didn’t. Ohio St.’s hero calmly chested the ball down and slotted it home, a left footed, no nonsense finish. Understated. Decisive.

There was surprise on the faces of the Buckeye players celebrating in the immediate aftermath of the goal. But there was also an air of inevitability, as if Bonham had simply been waiting all game to score that goal. As if the Buckeyes knew from the starting whistle how the game would end and had just now decided to reward their fans with the ending.

Suddenly, Ohio St. was playing with house money.

Their Sweet Sixteen matchup was against Baylor, a five seed. A team that had blanked Texas St. and then the no.4 seed Wisconsin. A tough matchup. A question mark for the Buckeyes. Would a thrilling double overtime win mean Ohio St. had to play through an emotional hangover? Could lightning strike twice?

In the 65th minute, the answer was YES. Lightning might not strike twice but it could assist and Bonham laid off a pass to Mandy Schlueter at the top of the 18-yard box arc. Schlueter took a touch, cutting towards her right, before cutting the ball back and sending a right footed finish into the left corner. Buckeyes 1, Baylor 0, the magic continued.

Until, just four minutes into celebrating the joy of a potential Elite Eight berth, Kai Hayes equalized. Tie game. Back down to earth for the Buckeyes. Twenty minutes to find a game winner, expect a game winner never materialized and questions about lightning striking twice started to creep in…

One sudden death over time. No score. Deadlocked at one.

A second over time. The minutes ticking away. Surely, maybe, impossibly Ohio St. could do it again? Or was it too much, to have cheated death once already in the tournament? How much luck could one team have?

Enter: Anika Poremba. A sophomore with just one goal on the season, against Division II Ashland in August. Before that just one goal in her freshman campaign.

It’s the 105th minute and Schlueter drives down the center of the pitch, collapsing first one, then two, finally three Baylor defenders on her. Her first shot is blocked, she’s in a sea of green as she recovers the ball and tries to find a way around the mob of defenders. Schlueter threads the ball through to a waiting Poremba, a few steps to the left of the baylor defenders. Poremba doesn’t even take a touch, just one times the ball, low, into the right side netting. Instant game winner. Ohio St. moves on in thrilling fashion once again.

Once again, there’s joy on the Buckeyes faces and a sense of knowing, as if, once again, this win was inevitable, just needed some time to marinate.

The Buckeyes were finally felled by FSU 4-1, ending their run in an exciting but ultimately fruitless matchup. Yet they clawed their way through multiple other favorites and gave Buckeyes fans an amazing run to root for.