Ohio dominated every facet of its game against Robert Morris Saturday, and owned every stat on the score sheet, but the game’s final score wasn’t indicative of how the Bobcats outplayed the Colonials.
Ohio (4-3) escaped only narrowly from Pruitt Field with a 2-1 victory against Robert Morris (3-4,) but doubled the Colonials’ five shots on goal and had 12 penalty corners to their five, clearly outplaying their Northeastern Conference opponent.
The Bobcats opened their scoring in the fifth minute on a penalty corner pass from junior Jessica Jue to senior Laura Mastro that was fed to senior Taylor Brown, who finished the play from the top of the crease.
The goal was Brown’s fourth of the season and 35th of her career, which moves her into a tie for fourth on Ohio all-time career goal list.
Robert Morris answered nine minutes later when freshman Jess Martin-Brown deflected a shot from sophomore Jamie Hartley past Ohio sophomore goalie Brittany Walker to even the score at one.
The next 50 minutes exposed Ohio’s biggest weakness, which has been capitalizing on opportunities and banking them in the back of the net. After Ohio’s first corner, which resulted in a goal, the Bobcats had 11 more corner chances, but didn’t convert a single one.
“We can really work on finishing around the goal and close in situations,” said Ohio coach Neil Macmillan. “We had a lot of corners we didn’t execute as well as we needed to. Obviously we started pretty well with the first one with Brown scoring that great goal, but then after that the goals didn’t come.”
But the Bobcats avoided going to overtime for the third consecutive time, as junior Luli Gomez Teruel took advantage of a loose ball in front of the Colonials’ net and slammed it home for her team-leading sixth goal of the season. And as she was winding up to put the Bobcats up for good, there was only one thought going through Terul’s mind.
“I had to get (the ball in),” she said. “I didn’t want to go to overtime again.”
The game wasn’t one of Ohio’s best of the season, but Macmillan was pleased with the Bobcats’ overall effort.
“It was a solid performance,” he said. “We gave up a little too much early on and in the middle of the second half, but otherwise I think we dominated and I’m happy with that aspect of it.”
And for the fifth straight game Walker played a pivotal role in the victory, stopping four of the five shots flung her way.
The Bobcats have the remainder of the week to catch their breath as they prepare for matchups against Mid-American Conference rival Kent State and nationally ranked Northwestern next weekend.
QUICK STATS
– Ohio’s Taylor Brown and Luli Gomez Teruel had one goal each.
– The Bobcats’ 10 shots on goal doubled the Colonials’ total.
– Robert Morris freshman Jess Martin-Brown scored her fourth goal of the season.
ch203310@ohiou.edu
