Big Ten Tournament quarterfinals preview: No. 2-seed Maryland field hockey vs. No. 7-seed Ohio State
· Yahoo Sports
In 2025, Maryland field hockey earned the No. 2 seed in the Big Ten Tournament and drew the No. 7 seed Ohio State in the quarterfinals. Despite entering as losers of four straight, the Buckeyes pulled off the upset, knocking the Terps out of the conference tournament and ending their season.
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On Wednesday, national No. 1 Maryland’s Big Ten Tournament run will commence with the Terps slated as the No. 2 seed. For the second straight year, the Terps have drawn the No. 7 seed Ohio State. Exactly 363 days after last year’s heartbreak, the Terps will get a chance to return the favor.
Maryland and Ohio State will do battle on Wednesday at 2 p.m. in Columbus, Ohio. The game can be found on Big Ten Plus.
What happened last time
Maryland defeated Ohio State (7-10, 2-6 Big Ten), 4-0, just over two weeks ago in College Park. However, the game was closer than the score might indicate. Each team attempted seven shots on goal while neither squad forced more than three penalty corners.
Despite the limited offensive opportunities – especially with corners – Maryland cashed in. The Terps opened the scoring in the first quarter on a set piece strike by Francisca Eschoyez before they doubled the lead on a Babs van Hest rocket early in the second frame.
Following van Hest’s goal, the game fell into a lull, something Maryland head coach Missy Meharg acknowledged after the game. Meharg explained that a combination of Ohio State’s defensive strategy and its desperation to clinch a Big Ten Tournament berth hampered the Terps’ attack.
Maryland never wavered on the defensive end, though. Goalkeepers Alyssa Klebasko and Ryleigh Osborne teamed up for seven saves and a shutout – one of Maryland’s nine in the regular season.
In the fourth quarter, the Terps’ offense exploded, courtesy of Feliz Kuhne. The sophomore buried a pair of goals separated by just 81 seconds to put the contest out of reach.
What’s happened since
Maryland failed to maintain its undefeated mark but still managed to win two of its final three regular season games – each of which was against a ranked opponent. Maryland began this three-game stretch with a tough loss at the hands of then-No. 2 Northwestern, 4-2. The Wildcats scored three times in the final period to secure the victory and the tiebreaker en route to the No. 1 seed in the conference tournament.
Since the loss, Maryland has rattled off wins over then-No. 13 Indiana and then-No. 9 Iowa. However, the two games couldn’t have been more different. Against the Hoosiers, the Terps scored a single goal, which came from van Hest in the 40th minute. Oppositely, the Terps burned the Hawkeyes for three goals before 15 minutes had elapsed.
Ohio State’s loss to Maryland was its eighth in a row at the time but its most recent one to date, as the Buckeyes have been perfect since the Oct. 18 duel in College Park. The eight-game skid ended with a 4-0 massacre of Michigan State in which the Buckeyes held the Spartans to a single shot on goal.
After a smooth non-conference win over Kent State, the Buckeyes traveled to Ann Arbor for a high-stakes matchup against rival Michigan, with the winner receiving the final bid to the Big Ten Tournament.
Ohio State thrived on penalty corners against Michigan, as the Buckeyes scored twice on set pieces. Phillippa Jowett got the party started four minutes into the match, and Katie Fichtner added on 30 minutes later. In the fourth quarter, the Buckeyes held off a furious Wolverines rally — one which included eight shots and six penalty corners — to snatch the final spot of the conference tournament with a 2-1 win.
Three things to watch
1. Best of both worlds. Maryland enters the Big Ten Tournament with the most goals scored and tied for the least goals allowed in the Big Ten. As a result, the Terps have the largest scoring margin in the conference at 2.47 goals per game.
2. Differing desires. While both teams hope to hoist the Big Ten crown on Sunday, they enter the postseason in vastly different situations. Maryland is squarely in the national tournament and is hoping to wrap up home field advantage for the first two rounds next weekend. On the other hand, Ohio State needs to win the Big Ten Tournament to steal a national tournament bid. For the Buckeyes, a loss ends their season.
3. Home field advantage. Ohio State is hosting the Big Ten Tournament at its Buckeye Varsity Field. This season, the Buckeyes are a pedestrian 4-5 at home.