Ohio State Defeats Memphis 3–1 in Top-25 Showdown
COLUMBUS, Ohio – Memphis walked into Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium with a ranking, belief, and a point to prove. Ohio State sent them home with a reminder of why the Buckeyes sit inside the top 10.
No. 8 Ohio State beat No. 23 Memphis 3–1 on Sunday night, striking twice before halftime and adding a third in the second half before the Tigers finally found a response through Mihiro Furuya.
It was a night of pressure, volume, and ultimately, punishment.
Buckeyes Strike First, Then Tighten Their Grip
Ohio State wasted little time tilting the match in its favor. In the 15th minute, the Buckeyes earned a corner and made it count. The delivery dropped into a crowded box, and Elle Britt reacted first, finishing to give the hosts a 1–0 lead and an early surge of control.
Memphis tried to answer with its own pressure, carving out chances and testing the back line. The Tigers would finish with 13 shots, seven on target, and stretches of possession that hinted at an equalizer. But every half-chance that went begging gave Ohio State room to breathe.
Just before the break, the Buckeyes landed what felt like a gut punch.
In the 41st minute, Callie Tumilty whipped a cross into the area. Amanda Schlueter met it and slotted home, doubling the lead and sending Ohio State into halftime 2–0 up. Memphis had work to do. A lot of it.
Britt, Schlueter Combine Again
Any hope of a second-half turnaround took a heavy blow just past the hour.
In the 69th minute, the same names that had tormented Memphis all night combined again. Schlueter turned provider this time, finding Britt in space. Britt did the rest, burying her second of the match and stretching the Buckeyes’ advantage to 3–0.
Ohio State, now 4-0-1, had its statement win in sight. Memphis, at 2-3-1, suddenly found itself playing for pride as much as points.
Furuya Breaks Through, Tigers Keep Swinging
Memphis refused to fold.
In the 79th minute, the Tigers finally broke through. Ally Casey drove a cross into the box, and Furuya met it, forcing the ball over the line for her first goal of the season and the third of her career. The deficit was cut to 3–1, and for a brief spell, the match crackled again.
The goal sparked Memphis. The Tigers pushed numbers forward, hunted for a second, and tried to turn a late surge into a dramatic finish. Ohio State bent but did not break.
Peighton Northrup stood firm in the Buckeyes’ goal, finishing with six saves as Memphis continued to fire. On the other end, the Tigers’ goalkeeper Ava Galani recorded four saves while facing 19 Ohio State shots, seven of them on target.
Workload, Milestones, and Emerging Voices
The box score carried its own storylines.
Furuya’s goal came in an efficient 31-minute shift, where she also added a second shot. Casey’s assist marked her first of the season and the second of her career, a bright note on a tough night.
Freshman Abby Forsgren kept her impressive run going, leading Memphis with three shots and putting all three on frame. Over her last three matches, she has now totaled nine shots and seven on goal, a clear sign of a young attacker growing into a central role.
Seven Tigers went the distance: Galani, Ava Gaida, Yuna Nagata, Evelyn Mackay, Casey, Natalie Dvorakova, and Maira Boosman all logged the full 90 minutes. For Dvorakova and Boosman, it was the first time in their collegiate careers they had done so.
There were firsts everywhere. Freshman Miyu Morota played a career-high 33 minutes. Neko Michell, Dvorakova, and Grayson Williams each earned the first starts of their college careers, thrown into the intensity of a top-10 road test.
Memphis finished with 13 shots and seven on target. Ohio State answered with 19 and the same number on frame, but crucially, three of those found the back of the net.
What Comes Next
The Tigers head home next, set to face Kansas City on Sunday, September 13, at the Track and Soccer Complex, with kickoff at 7 p.m.
A ranked team, a bruising road loss, and a schedule that isn’t slowing down. The question now is simple: how quickly can Memphis turn this lesson into a response?
