The Ohio State Womens Soccer team huddles together during their matchup against No. 6 BYU on Aug. 26. Ohio State lost 2-0. Credit: Zachary Riley | Photo Editor
Before the no. 22 Ohio State women’s soccer team battles Kent State on Sunday, it will recognize eight players during Senior Day.
Senior forwards Kayla Fischer and Emma Sears as well as defenders Talani Barnett and Kitty Jones-Black will be recognized alongside graduate forward Emaly Vatne, midfielder Maddy Lowe, defender Olivia Sensky and goalkeeper Kat Robinson.
While programs typically save their senior days for the last home game of the season, the Buckeyes will have theirs before starting Big Ten play.
“It’s always a special day for them because it’s recognition of their entire career, and with this particular group, they chose to stick around,” said head coach Lori Walker-Hock. “Some of them transferred here to Ohio State to do an extra year, so the appreciation we have for them holding off their regular lives and coming back for a year, giving us a situation where we can potentially be playing for a championship, is awesome .”
Walker-Hock said she has high praise for the players’ character.
“What I love about this group of seniors is that they’re amazing soccer players, but they’re even greater people,” Walker-Hock said. “They have deep character and have been wonderful leaders of our program through a very difficult time, through COVID, and have come out on the other side.”
Vatne, a fifth-year forward, said she learned several lessons during the pandemic.
“I think the COVID season was special,” Vatne said. “The whole season and all the results that we got, to finish the season second in the Big Ten with everything that we went through, even just thinking back to what we would say, ‘everyday, adapt and adjust,’ and that’s something I ‘ve kind of embraced since then.”
Barnett, a fifth-year defender and the Big Ten’s reigning Co-Defensive Player of the Week, said she shared that message of adaptability, as she’s played defender, midfielder and center forward throughout her career.
“You’re not always going to get what you want, to do exactly what you want,” Barnett said. “You have to be flexible, and then eventually you’ll build to where you are. And I wouldn’t have had it any other way because I love center back, and I love that position now better than midfielder, which is what I came in as.”
Lowe, a sixth-year midfielder who missed the entire 2018 and 2021 seasons with knee injuries, said she remembers the daily moments with her teammates.
“The moments at practice every day coming in with the girls, nothing beats it,” Lowe said. “Being out here and playing with your teammates, regardless if you’re on the field or not on the field.”
Fischer, a fifth-year forward who has scored more goals than any player in the program since she arrived, said she will always remember the first of 21 career goals she’s scored to this point.
“That’s something I’ll always remember,” Fischer said. “And kind of what kick-started like: ‘Hey you can play here, just give it your all.'”
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