The Ohio field hockey team dropped its fourth game in a row Saturday in a contest that was closer than the 4-1 final score indicates. The Indiana Hoosiers, ranked 12th in the nation, proved to be too much for the visiting Bobcats, as IU converted three of their four goals off penalty corners.
While the final results weren't what Ohio was looking for, the team still felt upbeat about their overall play.
I think we played really well. We did some really good things
senior goalkeeper Jennifer Cote said. We held them off from their big ball which was our main goal and I think overall it was a great effort. They just had a couple great deflections on corners that happened to go in.
Indiana's Lydia Schrott led the way for the Hoosiers, scoring the only goal between either team in the first half. Schrott then scored her second goal of the game less than eight minutes into the second frame.
Three minutes later, Indiana scored on a deflection from a penalty corner, increasing its lead to 3-0. Bobcat senior Lindsay Rothenberger was able to break up the shut-out effort, netting an unassisted score at the 60:54 mark.
It's often difficult to find the silver lining in a 4-1 defeat; however, coach Neil Macmillan saw a lot of things he liked in his team's defeat.
Our hustle with about 20 minutes to go was probably the best I've seen us play in a long time. We really put them under pressure
and we really took it to them
Macmillan said. The pressure was great
and the intensity was awesome.
The loss to Indiana marks the third top-20 opponent the Bobcats have fallen to in the 2005 campaign. Although Ohio would have liked to win a few of those contests, the team realizes that its non-conference schedule was an excellent warm-up for their Mid-American Conference play, which is set to begin this weekend. The Bobcats will travel to Muncie, Ind., to face Ball State on Friday and then will head to Oxford the following day for a meeting with the Miami RedHawks.
I definitely think we look good going into the MAC because we had a tough non-conference schedule
and we played a lot of teams in the top 20. So
I think our overall play will carry over into the MAC
senior Erica Bundalo said.
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