Stephanie Rowland leads the Bobcats to a 1-0 win in their MAC opener against Buffalo.
There were doubts surrounding freshman Stephanie Rowland's impact up front when she announced that she would play for the Bobcats.
Now eight games and three goals into the season, those doubts seem as far away as her long-range goal that led Ohio to its third-straight win, 1-0, in its Mid-American Conference opener against Buffalo.
"We have really good forwards," Ohio coach Aaron Rodgers, said. "It comes down to who wants to put the hard work in more than the opposition. ... This team is willing to commit to each other and fight."
In the 32nd minute, Rowland received a diagonal through ball from redshirt junior Carly Manso after a good build-up play by the Bobcats (3-5, 1-0 MAC). Rowland quickly took a touch and tucked a long-range effort just inside the back post for the only goal of the game.
Rowland was not the only good player for the Bobcats on Friday night. Freshman goalkeeper Taylor Smith staked her claim for the starting job after putting in a solid shift for Ohio, producing another clean sheet.
"Smitty had an awesome game," Rodgers said. "She's a tremendous athlete. ... She was only a part-time goalkeeper throughout her whole club career."
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Smith was only forced into three saves Friday but her ability to come out and claim crosses or push her way through a thicket of players and punch them away gave the Bobcats a major boost. She wasn't asked to do anything spectacular but her play was enough to keep the Bobcats in the game and prevent many close-range chances for the Bulls (4-4-1, 0-1 in MAC)
Chances were fairly prevalent for each team but Bulls center-back and MAC Hermann trophy watch-list player Jackie Hall did well to prevent the Bobcats from getting more chances on goal — they managed nine shots, four on target — but her play wasn't enough to keep Rowland's effort out.
This could be an uplifting win for Ohio, as Buffalo won the MAC last year and was picked to finish first in the MAC East division this season while Ohio was picked to finish fourth in the preseason poll. Now it is the Bobcats who find themselves atop the East division, and with another away game against fellow East challengers Akron on Sunday, Ohio has a chance to assert its dominance in the division.
"I want us to enjoy this win because they totally deserve it," Rodgers said. "But tomorrow we get back to work. We still have 10 more games to go.
"We have to continue to put the effort in. This has to be the base level of what we want to accomplish."
Sunday's game against Akron is scheduled for 12 p.m.
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