After making an early exit in the Mid-American Conference championship’s first round, Ohio soccer picked up two transfers to bolster both the offense and defense.
Junior Maggie Murnane, a forward and midfielder who transferred from the University of Dayton, and sophomore midfielder Tonya Frasik from Ohio Dominican University, have joined the Bobcats for the upcoming season.
Ohio coach Stacy Strauss said both newcomers played well in their first game, a 2-0 exhibition victory against Eastern Kentucky.
“They both did very well,” Strauss said. “We’re still trying to figure out where Tonya fits in the best, but she and Maggie both added a lot to our offense today.”
Both transfers were in the starting lineup Sunday. Murnane notched her first assist for the Bobcats when she headed a ball off a corner kick to sophomore Liz Finley, who scored Ohio’s first goal of the game.
Murnane said she chose to leave Dayton because she felt her role had diminished. In two seasons at Dayton, she played in 18 games, accumulating three shots on goal and one point.
“When I got here, it opened up my eyes,” Murnane said. “During spring play I finally felt that I have a spot here. I have a reason to be on the field to get the team going to score goals.”
Murnane comes from programs with winning traditions on the club and collegiate level. Her club team, Eclipse Select North, won a national championship in 2009 and Dayton has won three straight Atlantic 10 women’s soccer championships.
She said she has already started to enjoy Ohio, and is ready to bring that winning mentality to the Bobcats.
“Winning is a big thing I want to bring to Ohio, knowing that we can get it done no matter how big the other teams are or how good that the article says that the other team is compared to us. We’re going to go all out driving and go to goal,” she said.
Strauss said Murnane is a great post-up player with great size with her back to the goal who will help the Bobcats keep the ball in the attacking third.
“Certainly once we get the freshmen out on the field and get them understanding how Maggie plays, I think she’s going to find that she has some other players around her that she can combine with to create goal scoring chances,” Strauss said.
Like Murnane, Frasik wanted something more from her college soccer experience after playing in 19 games this past year for Ohio Dominican. She scored one goal with two assists.
“I was starting every game and it just wasn’t to the top of my ability,” she said. “I knew I could do better and that’s when I decided to get recruited again, which is very difficult, but I decided to choose schooling first and then do soccer second and it basically worked out in the end.”
Frasik came to Ohio for exercise physiology and tried out for the team during the summer. She said when the tryout came she was quite certain in her abilities.
“I was very confident,” Frasik said. “I knew this was exactly where I needed to be at the level so I gave it my all and I thought I stuck with all the girls very well.”
mk277809@ohiou.edu
