Maria Russell received the ball in front of the goal, tipped the ball to the right side of the goal and then jumped up in celebration thinking it was a goal as the ball hit off the post and bounced away denying the Bobcats the win in overtime.
Ohio fell to Kent State (10-6, 6-0 Mid-American Conference) in double overtime, 2-1, Friday afternoon on Senior Night at Pruitt Field despite a career-best performance from Alex Pennington in goal with 17 saves.
Down 1-0 Ohio (6-9, 3-2 MAC) came back in the 23rd minute as Amelia Milton ran around the defense and then cut in front of the goal and fired it past the goalie for her second goal of the season in her first and only season at Ohio.
Pennington was showing why she was inserted as the starter right before conference play began with strong play throughout the whole game but especially at the end of the first overtime where she made four straight stops on penalty corners to keep Ohio in the game.
“To hit the post in overtime like we did, everyone thought it was in, that would have been fantastic and outstanding but just not to be today and that’s unfortunate,” coach Neil Macmillan said.
Statistically it looked like Kent State was in total control as they outshot Ohio 21-5 and had 16 penalty corners compared to three for Ohio including eight in overtime but the Bobcats controlled the game at the end of the first half and for most of the second half.
Three and a half minutes into the second overtime Kent State was able to score the winning goal to clinch the MAC regular season title as Madison Thompson received the rebound after a missed shot off a penalty corner and fired it past Pennington.
The Golden Flashes started the game off strong with Ines Delpech scoring her fifth goal of the season in the fourth minute off a penalty corner with assists by Silvia Figa Malgosa and Jessica Nesbitt.
Ohio heads to East Lansing, Michigan for a non-conference game on Sunday starting at 1 p.m. against Michigan State (7-9, 3-4 Big Ten.)
