Life on the field hockey pitch has been frustrating for Cathryn Altdoerffer lately, but not too much.
Though she has not found the back of the net in five games, the Bobcats are still scoring and winning.
Through the season’s first 11 games, Cathryn Altdoerffer put 10 shots past the goalie. In that span, the Bobcats went 9-2 and Altdoerffer had four multi-goal games.
Since then, though, her production has fallen off. She has unleashed 12 shots — eight of them on goal — but none has gone in.
“A lot of my goals have come from corners,” Altdoerffer said. “My execution of corners hasn’t been as successful lately as before.”
Altdoerffer said her goals tend to come and go. The scoreless streak is not something she’s particularly focused on, and she gave credit to the different defensive schemes she has seen lately.
In addition, she just hasn’t had as many chances to take corners for the Bobcats (13-3, 6-0 Mid-American Conference). Coach Neil Macmillan deliberately used others for corner opportunities last weekend. With at least one more game against Kent State and other repeat foes, Macmillan didn’t want the opposition to see Altdoerffer’s corner approach.
“If you look at the games we played prior to this past weekend, we didn’t score a ton of goals, but she set up a lot of them with her play in the midfield,” Macmillan said.
Altdoerffer scored 10 goals in 2010. She knows that Miami and Ball State are eligible candidates to give up No. 11.
Altdoerffer’s last goal came in the Oct. 1 matchup against Ball State: She recorded a hat trick and her teammates scored six times.
“It’d be nice to do that again,” Altdoerffer said, “but I’m definitely expecting my team to get the ball in the back of the net. It doesn’t have to be me, as long as we come out with the win.”
In the five games since Ohio beat Ball State 9-1, five Bobcats have scored. Louzeth Schutte has scored three times in that span, while Taylor Brown and Jessica Vaeth have scored twice.
Brown has 12 goals to complement Altdoerffer’s 10. Trailing them are Brooke Edwards (eight), Jessica Jue (seven) and Schutte (six).
Only three players scored at least six goals all of last year, compared to this year’s five players with that many tallies. The Bobcats have already scored 54 goals, surpassing last year’s 52.
“We’ve got to look at finishing,” Macmillan said. “Whether it’s on corners or in open play, we’ve got to find ways of putting the ball in.
“We’ve been doing a good job of finding different ways to score.”
me811508@ohiou.edu
