After a disheartening penalty shootout loss to Ohio State on Wednesday, the Bobcats will return to Pruitt Field on Saturday to regain their winning ways.
Ohio will take on Robert Morris in a rematch of last year’s thriller, in which the Colonials broke a scoreless tie in overtime on only their second shot of the contest.
“They play on field turf and that was a significant factor in the game last year,” said Ohio coach Neil Macmillan. “Albeit (the loss) was 1-0, but you still have to finish. We outshot them (16-2), but they ended up getting the goal.”
The Colonials enter the game 3-3 on the year, but have dropped their past two games, including a 5-2 loss to Kent State last Friday. Losing slide aside, Macmillan isn’t taking the Colonials lightly.
“We have to make sure that we don’t overlook them,” he said. “They’re obviously not the big name like Indiana or Ohio State, but we have to make sure that we’re really focused for that.”
Robert Morris also features seven Australian players including sophomore midfielder Jamie Hartley, who leads the team with four goals and 18 shots on goal.
The Bobcats’ Saturday game plan isn’t anything foreign, though. They will take a standard approach in hopes of putting their mid-week loss behind them.
“Our passing was on and we had great opportunities (against OSU,)” said sophomore goalie Brittany Walker. “But it just came down to us not putting into the back of the net. ... It’s just a lesson learned.”
Macmillan was especially pleased with his team’s overtime play Wednesday, but agreed with Walker in saying that the Bobcats need to capitalize on their opportunities.
“The one key we need to address is finishing,” Macmillan said. “We didn’t have enough opportunities we from the possessions we had at (OSU’s) end.”
ch203310@ohiou.edu
UP NEXT
Robert Morris
1 p.m. at Pruitt Field
- Robert Morris enters the game with a 3-3 record.
- The Colonials defeated the Bobcats 1-0 in overtime last season.
- Robert Morris has only four upperclassmen on their roster.
