A stellar first half and a last-minute rally for Northwestern was not enough to beat No. 10 Ohio State on Saturday, as the Wildcats lost 3-2. NU has not topped Ohio State in Evanston since 1995.

The Cats (6-4, 0-2 Big Ten) silenced an explosive Ohio State offense for over 37 minutes, and both teams were kept scoreless in the first half.

“Our team took a little bit of time at the start to see what we were up against,” NU coach Kelly McCollum said, “We tried to react and respond to Ohio State rather than forcing them to react and respond to us.”

NU’s defense played strong in the first half, allowing only 10 shots from the Buckeyes. Ohio State’s defense and goalkeeping also was perfect.

The Buckeyes (10-2, 3-0) returned from the break with a renewed vigor offensively, scoring less than three minutes into the second half.

“Ohio State has very strong attackers,” McCollum said, “They capitalize on numerous opportunities and force themselves to be dangerous to our defense.”

Less than 10 minutes later, the Cats rallied and tied the game, 1-1, when sophomore Noreen Stewart put the ball past Ohio State goalkeeper Lindsay Williams.

“We fought a really hard game,” Stewart said. “It didn’t fall for us today, but we’re ready. It’s our time, and we are going to take big steps.”

Ohio State responded with a goal while the Cats played one player down as junior Meghan Small sat out after receiving a yellow card. The Buckeyes scored again less than 15 minutes later at the 65-minute mark and took a 3-1 lead.

Freshman Jill Putnam brought NU within one goal when she notched her eighth goal of the season with less than three minutes to play.

“We knew who we were coming up against and we knew that they were going to be a good team,” Putnam said. “We came back in the second half fighting strong and we took it all the way to the end.”

The Buckeyes held off the Cats’ late-game rally in the final minutes and notched their ninth straight victory. Ohio State has not lost since Sept. 4.

“It was a great game,” McCollum said. “We could have started off the game stronger and played a stronger first half, but I think we responded well in the second half.”

NU only was able to muster five shots in the second half, while Ohio State fired 16. The Buckeyes had 18 penalty corners to the Cats’ six.

“Our team took steps,” McCollum said. “We’ve been talking about learning and growing and this team took a major step from our first Big Ten match (against Penn State) to our second Big Ten match. This puts us in a position to keep moving forward.”

NU is back in action Tuesday at Iowa (7-4, 1-1). The No. 14 Hawkeyes are coming off a Saturday upset of No. 9 Michigan State.

The Cats defeated Iowa during the regular season last year in Evanston in double overtime, 1-0.

Reach Jason Prager at [email protected]