Heading into Friday’s game against Akron, Ohio had not walked away from the pitch victorious since Sept. 21, when it won its last of six straight games.
The Bobcats (7-5-1, 2-2-1 Mid-American Conference) rebounded from their two straight losses against the Zips (4-8, 0-5 MAC,) recording a 3-2 victory in which freshman forward Holly Harris played center stage.
Harris contributed two goals within a minute of each other in the second half for her second multi-goal game on the season.
The Bobcats jumped out to a 3-0 lead, but Akron scored twice in a span of eight minutes left in the second half to make things interesting down the stretch.
Ohio coach Stacy Strauss her team’s effectiveness at switching the point of attack was the difference in the game, and that the Bobcats’ defense worked at pressing more in practice this week — a move that paid off during the game.
“We talked this week about pressing a little bit higher,” Strauss said. “The past few games we’ve sort of sagged of a little bit and that allowed teams to come at us and get a lot of shots off. We just tried to be organized and do it in a manner where we didn’t get to spread out and press a little bit higher, for the most part that was effective.”
The Bobcats struck first late in the first half when sophomore forward Liz Finley put home her second goal in as many games, scoring off a free kick from senior forward Veronica Rock.
After leading the Zips in shots and shots on goal in the first half, Ohio came out strong after the break with several opportunities against Akron’s defense, testing Akron freshman keeper Klaire Adee.
With 16 minutes left in the game, Harris scored on an assist from Ohio senior midfielder Cat Rogers. Then, only a minute later, Rogers and Harris combined once again for another tally.
Harris said scoring three goals in the game was big for the Bobcats, as they haven’t put that many goals on the board this season, and credited her growing rapport with Rogers for opening up her offensive attack.
“I’ve played with her a lot all season and we can kind of read each other now,” Harris said. “We had a few little slip-ups but on that second goal I knew she wasn’t going to go baseline there were other people there so I just held my run and got the goal.”
Junior defender Amber Kern scored for Akron’s first goal of the match with 12 minutes remaining in the match. Senior Ashley Hughes had the Zips’ other goal.
Ohio will be back in action Sunday when it takes on Buffalo at 4 p.m.
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