NCAA Tournament Heartbreaker: Women’s Soccer Falls 1-0 to Ohio State on Goal in 107th Minute

Friday, November 11

Columbus, Ohio

6 p.m.

Bucknell University

8-6-5, 5-1-3

Ohio State (NCAA First Round)

11-5-3, 5-3-2

Team	1	2	3	4	Final F
Bucknell	0	0	0	0	0
Ohio State	0	0	0	1	1

Photo by: Lianne Garrahan

NCAA Tournament Heartbreaker: Women’s Soccer Falls 1-0 to Ohio State on Goal in 107th Minute

11/11/2022 9:04:00 PM | Women's Soccer

Box Score Photo Gallery

COLUMBUS, Ohio – The Bucknell women's soccer team was just 3:48 away from a third straight penalty-kick shootout, but Emma Sears scored late in the second overtime period to send sixth-seeded Ohio State to a 1-0 victory over the Bison in the first round of the NCAA Tournament on Friday night at Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium.

The Patriot League-champion Bison came into the night with six shutouts in their last seven matches, conceding only one goal over the previous 670 minutes, and they validated those numbers by turning in the best defensive performance in an NCAA Tournament game in team history. Bucknell's sixth NCAA appearance was also its first overtime match and first time keeping a clean sheet through 90 minutes, this one coming against a Buckeyes squad that came in averaging two goals per game.

Jenna Hall, the Patriot League Goalkeeper of the Year, was outstanding once again with eight saves, and the back four in front of her of Meghan White, Olivia DeConinck, Brooke Tracey, and Katie Schiano all played the full 110 minutes and were rock solid against Ohio State's high scoring front line.

"I couldn't be more proud of the effort from the whole group," said head coach Kelly Cook, who took her team to the NCAA Tournament for the fourth time in the last seven seasons. "Jenna Hall was absolutely tremendous, she came up huge for us time after time. The entire team defended with everything that they had, and I thought we also had a few moments of our own going forward."

Ohio State had more of the possession and finished with a 25-8 shot advantage, but Bucknell had two of the best scoring chances in regulation. In the 20th minute, Abby Gearhart split Ohio State's center backs after a beautiful pass from Petie Nassetta, and Gearhart's hard shot forced a diving save from Molly Prichard.

The Bison thought they had the breakthrough in the 83rd minute when Hannah Stuck headed in White's free kick, but the referee immediately waved it off, ruling Stuck had pushed off in the process.

Hall made two critical plays in the final minute of regulation, first barging outside the 18 to break up a long ball and then sliding out to take the ball off the foot of Kayla Fischer in a 1v1 situation.

Ohio State finally broke the deadlock in the 107th minute, as Sears dribbled into the box from the right side. DeConinck intervened, but the ball fell right back to Sears, who placed a left-footed shot just inside the left post. It was the ninth goal of the season and 22nd of her career for the All-Big Ten senior forward, who is a top-15 goal-scorer in Ohio State history.

Bucknell finishes the season 8-6-6, while Ohio State improves to 11-5-3 and moves on to face third-seeded Arkansas in the second round.

This will go down as one of the best defensive seasons in Bucknell history. The Bison tied the school record with 11 shutouts and conceded only 15 goals in 20 games.

Hall finished her junior campaign with a school-record 0.64 goals-against average, bettering the previous mark of 0.82 set by Jessica Ratner in 2015. Hall's .872 save percentage is No. 2 all-time trailing only Becky Snover's .872 in 1995.

"That's a tough way to see your season end, and I want to thank the seniors for their leadership and everything they have done for our program," said Cook. "They represented our school and our league very well. Not many classes get to go out with back-to-back championships, and they will have that to remember forever. At the same time, the future is extremely bright. Our younger players made a huge impact this year."