For the fifth consecutive season, the Bobcats exited the Mid-American Conference Tournament after the opening round.
Ohio’s season ended Sunday with a disappointing 3-0 loss to top seeded Eastern Michigan (12-6-2, 9-2-1 MAC).
Being the No. 8-seeded team in the MAC Tournament, it was a longshot for the Bobcats (7-8-5, 3-6-3 MAC) to advance very far especially against the Eagles, which had been playing the best soccer among MAC teams entering the tournament.
Much like the first meeting between the two teams, in which Ohio fell by the same final score, Eastern Michigan scored early on a fluke goal that floated into the net giving the Eagles a 1-0 lead just five minutes into the game.
Senior forward Stephanie Clarke tallied her second of the game to put the Eagles ahead 2-0 heading into halftime. The final goal for Eastern Michigan came during the 66th when forward Angela Vultaggio chipped a score over the head of Ohio’s goalkeeper Mattie Liston.
The Bobcats had their chances to score, though, as they attempted 15 shots of their own including six on goal. Unfortunately, none of them troubled Eastern Michigan’s goalkeeper Megan McCabe.
Much of Ohio’s offensive pressure came during the second half, as it dominated most of the play in the half.
“We still didn’t have that cutting edge to finish,” coach Aaron Rodgers said. “Their goalkeeper didn’t have to make any fantastic saves. Our finishing just wasn’t exact enough and I think we created a lot, we were dangerous. We had a penalty; their kid had a hand ball in the box and the ref was standing right there. It was too bad because we deserved a chance.”
Ohio will now look forward to next season, when it hopes to improve in the team’s second year in the Rodgers era.
He said the team looks to take the next step, which would be to host a first-round game in the MAC Tournament — something that the Bobcats haven’t done since 2006.
“I think we need to continue to score the goals that we did and we need to keep raising the bar,” Rodgers said. “The bottom line is we can’t be satisfied with just making the MAC tournament.”
In order to make this jump, Ohio must improve its goal differential. The Bobcats finished the season with a minus-one goal differential, which Rodgers said is not solid enough to be a top team in the MAC.
“I contend if you score more goals than you give up over all in the season and in conference that you are going finish high up,” Rodgers said. “That’s going to be something that we are going to concentrate on.”
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