A road trip that featured both victory and defeat left the Bobcats with mixed feelings about their weekend performance.
Ohio (1-1) clinched its first victory of the season with a 3-1 win against Colgate University on Friday, but suffered a setback on Sunday at the hands of Syracuse who dominated both ends of the field in a 6-0 win.
“That (Colgate) game was the ideal way to start the season,” said coach Neil Macmillan. “I was very happy with the pressure we put on the opposing team, especially in the second half.”
Taylor Brown scored the Bobcats’ first two goals of the season, the second of which was a top corner gem early in the second half.
Sophomore Caelyn Hartley deflected a shot from Andrea Biegalski past the Raiders’ goalkeeper to round out Ohio’s scoring.
Although Ohio’s defense relented and allowed a goal late in the game, Macmillan said he was more than satisfied with the Bobcats’ work on their own end.
“Our defensive play in this match was sensational,” he said. “I think to give up only three shots in the second half and one of them was a goal is really satisfying for us.”
The first-game success didn’t translate in the Bobcat’s loss to No. 7 ranked Syracuse, when the Bobcats were outshot 27-4.
“I think when you look at the score sheet at halftime and see that it’s three to nothing, you have a feeling there’s been one-way traffic, but I think it was much closer than that,” Macmillan said. “We actually got the first couple of shots, the first corner and did a good job of putting pressure on them,” he added.
Macmillan said players felt their on-field communication and spacing are areas they can improve upon in practice this week.
“Our communication in general is something that we need to focus on,” senior Cathryn Altdoerffer said. “Communicating, getting the ball up the field and finding more opportunities to put the ball in the net are things we’ll need to work on.”
ch203310@ohiou.edu
