This game was all but decided early Friday, as Eastern Michigan scored two goals during the first 11 minutes to put the Ohio women’s soccer team behind the eight ball.
This has been the trend all season long which leaves them with a lot of work to be done.
Friday, the Bobcats showed a little glimmer that they could come back in the second half before conceding their third goal, as Ohio fell to Eastern Michigan 3-0.
“Credit to Eastern, they lost both games last week,” coach Aaron Rodgers said. “I knew they would come in here be looking for a win cause they opened up their season 4-0 in the MAC and then lost two in a row."
"(Eastern Michigan is) a quality team and knew that they were coming in here. We had to match their intensity and that’s one of the things I told our girls. They pride themselves on 50-50 balls and being a strong, physical team and we’ve got to match their intensity and we didn’t and they got two goals early.”
During the first half the Eagles came out and forced the action getting behind the Ohio defenders.
On the first goal, sophomore midfielder Cara Cutaia went unmarked from the top of the box and then beat Bobcat keeper Mattie Liston by curling a nice ball into the top corner in the ninth minute.
They followed that up two minutes later when Angela Vultaggio finished a rebound and gave Eastern Michigan a 2-0 lead heading into half.
“We tried a new formation in the first half and obviously it didn’t work very well,” said Rodgers. “We went back to our old formation in the second half and we created a lot more chances and probably that’s something we’ll have to stick with. I feel like I’ve overloaded the girls with tactically with information all season. I feel like they are becoming mentally fatigued and they can’t do that. We’ve got to keep it simple and get back to the things we understand.”
Ohio showed glimpses in the second half, but there was no consistent play from the Bobcats, which only attempted eight shots.
Mattie Liston was one of the lone bright spots for Ohio, as she finished with 15 saves, including one sequence where she recorded three consecutive saves in continuous play.
“We have to turn around and play a very good Western Michigan team Sunday who is going to put us under a lot of pressure like today,” he said. “I have faith in this team if we’re able to do what we’re good at, if we can be the aggressor, if we can fight and be physical and possess the ball I think we have a good chance to win. Something we didn’t show today.”
ak840511@ohiou.edu
@KovarAndrew
