OXFORD - It might have been a dreary November afternoon in Oxford. For the Ohio field hockey team, however, it was sunny skies and perfect temperatures.
The Bobcats (7-11 overall, 5-5 Mid-American Conference) exploded for four first half goals on their way to a 5-0 victory Saturday against Miami (1-16, 0-10 MAC) after Ohio dropped Friday's game to Louisville, 3-1.
When we really decide to play well
we can do this to a lot of teams said Ohio coach Shelly Morris.
The Bobcats poured it on early and often against Miami, spoiling the RedHawks' Senior Day. Ohio got on the board in the ninth minute off a goal by Tanja Konijn, then put another number on the board less than a minute later when forward Liz Holtzman took a Lindsay Rothenberger pass and scored.
I think what we did really well today that we'd been lacking was finishing connecting with our passes and putting the ball in the goal
said Rothenberger, who collected two goals and two assists on
the weekend.
Ohio scored twice more in the first half, then added the final tally in the second half on forward Maureen Casserly's first collegiate goal.
We have these letdowns
and I'm not sure where they come from
Morris said.
We decided that wasn't going to happen anymore
and I'm really glad we turned things around today.
In the net, goalkeeper Jennifer Cote remained tough, picking up two saves before being replaced in the second half by Ashley Pitkin.
Although Friday's outcome was contrasting, Morris said the team played well for a majority against Louisville (11-9, 6-4 MAC), but fell short in the end.
We played bad for about 17 minutes yesterday
out of the 70
she said.
It's just unfortunate that in those 17 minutes
they go up by two goals.
The game was knotted, 1-1, in the second half until the Cardinals scored twice within five minutes to down Ohio.
Cashing in on scoring chances was the difference Saturday, back Amanda Freeman said.
We capitalized on a lot of our opportunities today
which is something that we've been saying we needed to do all season
