The Ashland University women’s soccer team played the Ohio State University women’s soccer team on Sunday, August 25. 

The women’s soccer team took it to the next level by competing against a Division I opponent; however, this allowed the team to challenge themselves and figure out what they needed to work on going into their 2024 fall season. 

“It was a great opportunity to play one of the best teams in the country and figure out what we need to get better at right away,” Head Women’s Soccer Coach Cayleb Paulino. 

Previous to this game, the Buckeyes were 2-0 with neither Duke University nor the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee teams scoring against them. 

This changed when junior forward Sydney Thomas scored an unassisted score against the Buckeyes, allowing the team to go 2-1 during the 50th minute of the game.  This broke the Buckeyes record of not having been scored on during their 2024 fall season. 

“The grew some belief of the game we turned around once we were able to get a goal,” Paulino said.  “The players really started to get excited and looked to get another one.” 

Despite going for another goal, the Buckeyes Freshman Ava Greco scored a final score on the Eagles during the 53rd minute of the game – resulting in a 1-3 finish in which the Buckeyes won.

Despite this loss, this serves as a coaching experience for Paulino going into their official start of the 2024 season. 

“It was an opportunity for us to figure out, again, things that we need to get a little bit cleaner on,” Paulino said.  “I think it’s great preparation for us to play against some of the best teams.” 

The Eagles will next take on Grand Valley State on Sept. 5 at 3 p.m. for an away game in Allendale, Michigan where they’ll enter two more games that weekend against Saginaw Valley State and Ferris State.