The Ohio State women’s soccer team capped its regular-season home slate in historic fashion on Sunday afternoon, beating Illinois 3-0 at Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium in Columbus to claim the outright Big Ten Conference championship.
Amanda Schlueter opened the scoring in the 19th minute, finishing a build-up from Micayla Decker for her team-leading 15th goal of the season. Less than two minutes later, sustained Buckeye pressure forced an Illinois own goal, and Elle Britt added a late strike in the closing minutes to complete the 3-0 result.
Goalkeeper Peighton Northrup and the Ohio State defense recorded their 10th shutout of the year, keeping Illinois off the scoreboard entirely across the full 90 minutes.
The win lifts Ohio State to 14-1-1 overall and 10-1-0 in the Big Ten with 30 points. Ohio State said the 10 conference wins are the most in a single season in program history.
By securing the outright title, the Buckeyes lock up the No. 1 overall seed and a first-round bye for the upcoming eight-team Big Ten Tournament.
Head coach Lori Walker-Hock’s team now turns its attention to the conference tournament, where the top seed and the bye give Ohio State the shortest path to another trophy.
For Columbus fans, Sunday’s title adds another championship chapter to a fall season that has kept Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium busy, and the Buckeyes will carry one of the nation’s strongest records into postseason play.
Sunday’s result also underlined how complete this Ohio State side has been at both ends of the field: 15 goals from Schlueter alone, double-digit shutouts as a team, and just one loss across the entire regular-season home slate at Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium.
The Big Ten Tournament’s eight-team field will chase the Buckeyes from here, but the outright championship — won on the field, at home, in a shutout — is already in hand, and Ohio State will learn its tournament path as the bracket is finalized this week.