Doing something for the first time is usually hard.
During Ohio’s second game of the season Sunday at Chessa Field, redshirt freshman forward Sasha Haverchak took care of two firsts, as the goal she scored was the first of the Aaron Rodgers Ohio coaching era and also the first of her career.
Coming off a pass from senior forward Maggie Murnane just inside the 18-yard box, Haverchak proceeded to lose her defender, slotting the ball in the bottom corner of the goal.
“As soon as I shot that, I had chills, I almost got teary-eyed just because it was my first goal of my college career,” Haverchak said. “It gave me the drive to work even harder after that and try to score another one.”
That goal, however, was not enough to clinch the Bobcats’ first victory of the season, as Ohio and Wright State finished in a 1-1 tie after two overtimes.
Just before the 67-minute mark, Haverchak scored her goal, which followed a 25-yard successful strike from Wright State’s Emilie Fillion in the 36th minute.
“We came in a little tentative,” Rodgers said. “We were afraid to make mistakes and I continue to tell the team we’re going to make mistakes, but you’ve got to do it full speed, you’ve got to play quickly, you’ve got to play fast, and if you do it at full speed the negative aspects won’t be as bad.”
In the second half, the Bobcats looked like a different team by possessing the ball in the attacking third of the field and creating plenty of chances. As a result, Wright State was forced to concede 12 corners to Ohio, which allowed the Bobcats to attempt 17 shots, with 10 of those occurring in the second half.
At the end of 90 minutes the game was tied at one. That’s where it remained after the two overtime periods, as neither team generated substantial offense in overtime.
“I didn’t say too much tactically outside of the defensive adjustments, but beyond that you just have to fight more than they do,” Rodgers said. “(Wright State) out-fought us in the first half and they deserved to go into the half ahead, so credit to them and their coaching staff and their team.”
Rodgers and the Bobcats are still looking for their first win of the season after also failing to win its season opener against Indiana on Friday, as the Hoosiers played to a 1-0 victory.
Ohio will next be in action on Friday against DePaul in a game that will kick off from Chessa Field at 4 p.m.
ak849511@ohiou.edu
@kovarandrew
