Jessie Martin had been itching to play in a field hockey match for a long time.
Ohio's sophomore goalkeeper redshirted in 2004 and played behind Jennifer Cote last year, who was a regular candidate for Defensive Player of the Week honors in the Mid-American Conference.
This year, with Cote's graduation, the goal-stopping duties fell to Martin.
I feel like I've been ready to play for a while
Martin said. Jen was amazing last year. She had a lot of pressure situations and we had a lot of talks after games about dealing with the pressure but this year it feels great to just be back in the cage again.
Martin made four appearances last year with one save in about 23 minutes, but in four games this year, she has already recorded 22 saves.
The goalie controls a lot of what goes on in the field as far as talking and just putting people in the right spaces
said back Amanda Arnold. (Jessie) knows what she has to do and does a good job of getting it done.
Coach Neil Macmillan added that (Martin has) played exceptionally so far. She's very aggressive with her play and that's exactly what we need.
For the home opener this weekend, Ohio will need Martin to have another performance similar to the 55 minutes she held No. 7 Penn State scoreless earlier this year.
The Bobcats face No. 10 Indiana and their All-American forward Lydia Schrott today and take on Radford (Va.) on Sunday. Schrott, who leads the Big Ten with six goals, is up against a Bobcat defense that has allowed the most goals in the MAC with 13, but Macmillan said that statistic is not necessarily a reflection on Martin.
Unfortunately
we've left her in a lot of one-on-one situations
he explained. The goals that she's let in have been somewhat the team's fault rather than her fault.
Although the Hoosiers are riding a three-game winning streak and are the fifth consecutive ranked team that Ohio will play, Martin is determined to get the Bobcats in that class as well.
It's been a lot of fun
she said, We're excited. I think it's great that we're playing some top teams so we can show where we should be.
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