More than football: How every other Ohio State fall sport did this season
With all NCAA fall sports entering or finishing up their postseasons, here’s a look at how the Buckeyes did in every other fall sport this season while most of the attention was on the football team.
Women’s volleyball
In her second season with the program, coach Jen Flynn Oldenburg led the Buckeyes to the No. 9 overall seed in the NCAA tournament for the second year in a row.
But unlike last season’s tournament, which was played in a bubble in Omaha, Nebraska, Ohio State got the reward of hosting the first and second rounds as one of 16 national seeds.
At 25-5 overall and 15-5 in Big Ten play, the Buckeyes finished tied for third in what’s widely regarded as the toughest conference in the country. Led offensively by sophomore outside hitter Emily Londot, junior Gabby Gonzales and sophomore middle blocker Rylee Rader, the Buckeyes began the season 10-0 and secured wins against No. 6 seed Purdue, No. 11 seed Nebraska and No. 15 seed Washington.
Rader led the conference in hitting percentage, and junior setter Mac Podraza led the Big Ten in assists per set.
Women’s soccer
The only other fall team sport to make the NCAA Tournament was the women’s soccer team. In her 25th season as coach, Lori Walker-hock led the Buckeyes to the tournament for the 15th time in program history and 11th time in the past 13 seasons.
They lost to Virigina Tech, 3-1, in the first round.
One of six Big Ten teams to make the NCAA Tournament, the Buckeyes finished seventh in the Big Ten. They were
9-9-2 overall and 4-4-2 in the Big Ten. Ohio State went 2-0-1, including a win over Michigan, in the final three games of the regular season to get into the Big Ten tournament before losing in the first round to Purdue. That run likely saved the Buckeyes’ chances of making the NCAA Tournament.
Ohio State might have a future star on its hand in forward Kailyn Dudukovich. As a freshman, she led the Buckeyes with seven goals. Dudukovich and senior Kayla Fischer were named third-team All-big Ten.
Men’s soccer
It was a rough year for fourth-year coach Brian Maisonneuve. The Ohio State men’s soccer team finished last in the Big Ten, finishing 2-6 in conference play and 6-9-1 overall. It was the second time in four seasons that Ohio State didn’t qualify for the Big Ten tournament.
In four seasons under Maisonneuve, Ohio State is 17-41-5. The Buckeyes haven’t made the NCAA Tournament since 2015.
A bright spot for the Buckeyes was sophomore midfielder Laurence Wootton. After being named Big Ten freshman of the year this past spring in the pandemic-shortened 2020-21 season, Wootton earned his second first-team All-big Ten honor with six goals and two assists in 15 games.
Field hockey
The Ohio State field hockey team finished the year 7-11 overall and 1-7 in the Big Ten and didn’t qualify for either the Big Ten tournament or NCAA Tournament.
The Buckeyes were ranked as high as No. 16 in the country before winning just one of their final 11 games. Ohio State was eaten up in a crazy good Big Ten conference.
The top five teams in the final coaches’ poll ranking were in the Big Ten. Eventual national champion Northwestern was No. 7. In their final six games, Ohio State played five top-10 teams.
Emma Goldean was Ohio State’s leading scorer and earned second-team Allbig Ten honors.
Cross country
Freshman Addie Engel was the Buckeyes’ top runner this season, placing third at NCAA regionals to earn her first berth to the NCAA championships. Engel placed 66th of 250 runners with a 6K run time of 20:15.4. She ran a personal-best time of 19:59.6 at regionals. Engel earned first-team All-big Ten honors, finishing fourth at the Big Ten championships.
The Ohio State women’s team finished sixth at the NCAA regionals, while the men’s team finished 12th, running a 10K. Zubin Jha was the fastest men’s runner for the Buckeyes this season, finishing 29th at the Big Ten championships and 68th at regionals. jmyers@dispatch.com @_jcmyers