On Sunday, Ohio traveled to Ypsilanti, Michigan, to face off against Eastern Michigan and came away with a 3-2 win. Ohio, coming into this match after a win over Miami, was 1-2 in Mid-American Conference play this season. Eastern Michigan was 1-1-1 in the MAC coming into the match.
Ohio started the match with a quick attack, getting the ball to Regan Berg within 12 seconds of kickoff, allowing her to take a shot. The shot went wide left, but showed that Berg and Ohio were ready to play
After another shot for the Bobcats, the Eagles counterattacked, scoring the first goal of the game in the 9th minute. Maddie O’Farrell was the Eagle to score, with an assist from Ashley Schneider. The goal made O’Farrell the leading scorer for the Eagles, with 4 goals this season.
The game continued, with fouls going both ways, until the 21st minute, when Berg opened Ohio’s account with a goal, which she created herself. This would not be the end of Berg’s day offensively.
Eastern Michigan showed control of the rest of the half, putting up nine shots to Ohio's two. With less than a minute left in the half, Ohio freshman Scout Murray had a shot bounce off the crossbar, which would end the half with the score tied 1-1.
Eastern Michigan got itself a couple of corner kicks to start the second half, both of which ended with shots that were saved by Ohio goalie Sam Wexell.
After the Eagles second corner ended with a save, the Bobcats had an opportunity to counterattack, getting the ball to Abby Townsend, who found Berg for a goal, putting the Bobcats up 2-1 in the 53rd minute. Townsend is the Bobcats’ assist leader this season with 6, followed by a group of players tied for second with two.
In an attempt to even the game back up, Arielle Fink had a shot that bounced off the crossbar. The bounce was read perfectly by O’Farrell, who got her second goal of the game to tie it at 2-2 in the 75th minute.
To finish out the game, both teams showed they were playing to win, as Eastern Michigan sent in their more veteran forwards to replace their younger ones, and Ohio kept the pressure with fouls and shots.
But it was Ohio, in the 88th minute, who got a corner kick. With only minutes left in the game, the team knew that this could be its last chance. Ohio took the corner, which was sent out, but recovered by Aubrey Rea, who then sent the ball back to Berg. She once again found the back of the net, giving Ohio a 3-2 lead with a minute left to go in the game.
The goal by Berg would end the game and move Ohio to 2-2 in MAC play.
Berg became the third player in Ohio history to score a hat trick, with the last coming in 2003, from Christel Schiering.
