Two Big Ten bubble teams had their NCAA women’s tournament hopes compromised on Thursday.
Indiana’s late-season collapse is complete. The Hoosiers (9-7-4) were upset by Michigan, 2-1, in a game that saw both teams get on the board with own goals. In mid-October, IU was 5-0-1 in conference play with the tie coming against powerhouse Penn State, but it finished with four straight losses to fall into fourth place behind Penn State, Illinois and Purdue, all assured of moving into the NCAA Tournament with victories on Thursday.
Purdue’s 2-1 win over Ohio State (10-8-1) on Sylvia Forbes‘s overtime goal didn’t help the Buckeyes’ chances. “We came into this tournament sixth in the conference,” said Ohio State coach Lori Walker afterwards, “and hopefully the NCAA selection committee will go deep in our conference because we have had worthy wins this season.” Ohio State’s best wins were over Cal and Illinois.
Defending champion Wisconsin needed to run the table at the Big Ten Tournament from the No. 7 spot like it did last year to return to the NCAA Tournament, but the Badgers came up short against Illinois, losing, 3-0, in the quarterfinals. At 7-9-3, the Badgers are finished.
Top seed Penn State, which fell in a shootout to Michigan in last year’s quarterfinals, got a scare from Wisconsin before prevailing, 3-2, in a game that saw all five goals be scored in the first 35 minutes. Aubrey Aden-Buie and Ashley Myers put the Lions two goals ahead in less than 10 minutes, but the Wildcats pulled even on goals by Jenny Dunn and Shannon Schneeman. Aden-Buie won the game with her 11th goal of the year.