Defense was the theme of the weekend, as only a pair of goals were scored during Ohio’s games against California and No.12 Northwestern.
The Bobcats (2-4) earned a weekend split against those two teams, defeating Cal (3-3) on Saturday 1-0, before losing to Northwestern (7-1) by the same score on Sunday.
“Our defense had a huge impact on the weekend’s outcomes,” coach Neil Macmillan said. “Brittany was outstanding in goal and we won a lot of the one-on-one situations. Overall I was very happy with our defense.”
Junior goalkeeper Brittany Walker spearheaded the Bobcats’ defensive effort, only allowing one goal to pass out of the eight shots taken by the Golden Bears and Wildcats this weekend.
“Our team mantra is ‘dominate’, and I think that’s exactly what we did,” Walker said. “We played aggressively in both games and played off of each other. It was a team effort.”
Three of Walker’s saves came against Cal on Saturday during the Bobcats’ victory. Ohio’s defense combined with senior Jessica Jue’s first goal of the season, which came from a rebounded corner, gave the Bobcats their lone win of the weekend.
But Sunday’s game left the Bobcats on the opposite end of a 1-0 game.
The Wildcats were successful in edging out the Bobcats with the lone goal coming from Northwestern senior Nikki Parsley in the 41st minute.
Walker recorded five saves during the game, while freshman Franzisca Schmiedel recorded a team-high of two shots on goal.
“We went into these games with a very positive attitude,” Macmillan said. “We were competitive throughout both games and had great opportunities to beat Northwestern.”
Team point leader, senior Luli Gomez Teruel had a quiet weekend by attempting just four shots, with none being converted into goals. Schmiedel attempted the most shots with five.
“Even with how well we played, there are still things we will need to improve upon before our next game,” Macmillan said. “Our corner execution can be better. We had a lot of corner opportunities this weekend and we didn’t directly convert any of them. We’re also going to need to improve on finishing in the open field.”
The Bobcats will continue their rigorous non-conference schedule next Saturday when they travel to play Indiana. The game was scheduled to be the Bobcats home opener, but was moved due to the ongoing construction of Pruitt Field.
“We enjoy playing the harder, ranked opponents,” Walker said. “Playing these teams, and especially beating them, sets a great example for how we should play in all of our games, and it really gets us ready for conference play.”
tj790511@ohiou.edu
