With 14 minutes remaining in its Friday match against Ohio, Miami sophomore forward Jess Kodiak struck the game’s first goal in which was a highly physical affair.
Ohio (6-5, 1-2 Mid-American Conference) and Miami (9-2, 3-0 MAC) combined to commit 26 fouls in the match, which was the Bobcats’ fourth consecutive defeat at the hands of its rival, but also its second straight defeat in MAC play.
The Bobcats were engaged in a defensive battle in the first half of its contest against the RedHawks, Miami led Ohio in shots 8-5 and at half. The teams combined for nine corners in the first half, as well.
In the first five minutes of the game, Ohio had a prime chance to score when Ohio senior forward Erin Schwenke broke away from Miami’s defense and pinged a shot off the crossbar. Ohio would create several more chances later in the match, but Schwenke’s proved to be the best of the day.
The RedHawks outshot Ohio 22-9, generating 14 shots in the second half. After making two saves in the first half, Ohio keeper Mattie Liston, a junior, was forced to make seven in the second half.
Ohio coach Stacy Strauss said Miami did a good job chipping away at the Bobcats throughout the game en route to its only goal.
“They’re a very good team and I thought they certainly did a good job to stay in it,” Strauss said. “I think that we had some great off opportunities in the counter attack which we expected and we weren’t able to capitalize fully on any of them and I thought they did a good job to match our physical play.”
Strauss said Ohio needs to work on its on field awareness, as they cleared the ball out of bounds when they could have tried to get the ball to a teammate and generate a counter attack.
Ohio senior defender Paige Howard said the Bobcats should use the loss as motivation for Sunday’s game against Ball State.
“I think we just need to keep this in the past,” she said. “Maybe it will give us a little bit of fire. You have losing to (Miami,) but at least we get a quick turnaround and get it off our chest and leave it out on the field on Sunday.”
Ohio will return to the pitch Sunday when it faces Ball State at 1 p.m.
