While the Ohio field hockey defense was busy shutting down opponent after opponent so far this season, the Bobcats were quietly establishing themselves as a team with a multitude of scoring threats.
The fact that just about anyone on the team can step up and put one in the net has left Ohio's Mid-American Conference foes with their hands full.
We're not relying on one person to do the scoring
Ohio coach Neil Macmillan said about his fairly young group. I think last year we really relied on Torrie (Albini) to create and score our goals.
This year we're really passing it around, and whoever happens to be in the right place is the one who's going to end up with the score.
Forward Estienne Coetzee has predominantly been the person in the right place at the right time for Ohio (7-6 4-1 MAC); with Macmillan adding that she's got a good understanding of where to go on the field.
The sophomore's sixth goal of the year against Central Michigan marked the fourth straight game she had scored.
She's taken a lot of pressure off myself and some of the other key players with her goal-scoring, Albini said of Coetzee
whom she is tied for the team lead in goals with six. She's really causing other teams to watch her a lot tighter, but she's still finding a way to produce goals, which is so important.
That doesn't mean Albini's scoring role has taken a backseat with Coetzee's emergence
just that the junior forward is also having a career year in assists.
Although Albini led the conference last year with 29 points
she had just one assist to complement 14 goals. This year
she already has six assists
good enough for the team lead.
We have a well-rounded attack as far as having a lot of players that are threatening other teams' defenses, back Amanda Arnold said. It's not just one or two people that get the job done.
In the past five games alone
six different players have scored Ohio's 10 goals
including freshman Katelyn Shelley
who came off the bench to record her first collegiate goal against Ball State on Sept. 22.
I like what she can do for us right now, Macmillan said. To have someone who can have coverage in many areas on the field is fantastic.
She's making a case to be out there all the time
