A dejected Ohio squad listened to coach Neil Macmillan give a postgame speech Sunday and left the huddle in tears and frustration. Although it’s not known what Macmillan said to the team, the reaction was indicative of how the season has progressed for Ohio.
The Bobcats once again came up short Sunday, falling to No. 10 Northwestern 2-1, dropping their record to 4-5 on the year.
It was the second-straight loss for the Bobcats, who lost to Kent State 2-1 in overtime Friday and can’t find a solution to their woes on the offensive end of the pitch. Since beating Radford 9-0 in its third game of the season, Ohio has scored more than one goal only once (in a 2-1 victory against Robert Morris) in its past six games.
Macmillan said the team had been working on finishing plays in practice, but the team simply hasn’t been able to put the ball in the back of the net.
“I don’t know how you address that little bit of mindset,” Macmillan said. “We’ve got to the point where we’re very frustrated as a team about it, which is probably the first step you need in (addressing) that. And then we have to find a way of getting the people in the right positions and getting that job done, because right now that’s what it comes down to.”
Northwestern’s first-half play was indicative of its national ranking, as the Wildcats (9-2) blanked the Bobcats and allowed no shots or corners. Nine minutes into the game, Wildcat senior Chelsea Armstrong opened the scoring on a feed from junior Tara Puffenberger. But despite being forced to defend for the majority of the half, Ohio only trailed 1-0 going into the break.
The Bobcats took the field with a different look in the second half, dominating possession in the early portion of the half and sustaining substantial offensive pressure.
Ohio finally broke through in the 48th minute on a corner, as junior Jessica Jue passed the ball to freshman Adele Sammons, who shot the ball through a crowd on the left side of the net, which found its way past Northwestern’s sophomore goalie, Maddie Carpenter.
“We’ve been working on that (play) a lot in training, and I’ve done it before in games,” Sammons said of her goal. “I was just really happy to score my first goal.”
But Northwestern would counter 11 minutes later, as freshman Caroline Troncelliti slid the ball underneath Ohio sophomore goalkeeper Brittany Walker, who allowed more than one goal in regulation for only the second time this season.
The loss drops Ohio to less than .500 for the first time this season — a mark Macmillan feels reflects how Ohio has played.
“The key theme is we’re all sick of losing because we’re not the team that the record suggests we are,” he said. “We competed and beat Ohio State, yet lose it on the scoreboard. Today, we’re competitive and we need just a few different things to go our way and it’s a different result. … The games we’re losing, we need to find a way of finishing them. That’s our problem right now.”
ch203310@ohiou.edu
