Win and they’re in — it’s as simple as that for the Bobcats, who control their own destiny when it comes to qualifying for the Mid-American Conference Tournament.
Defeating Kent State on Saturday will guarantee Ohio a spot in the tournament, but a loss combined with a Ball State victory will end the Bobcats’ season.
That being said, beating the Golden Flashes won’t be an easy task for the Bobcats.
“The girls know how much this game means. We’ll have to stay focused and relaxed if we want to win,” coach Neil Macmillan said. “The practices this week have been some of the most intense we’ve had all year.”
Whenever Ohio (6-9, 2-2 MAC) and Kent State (8-8, 4-0 MAC) have taken the field with each other, the games have been evenly matched.
Between 2008 and 2011, when teams in the MAC played all the other teams twice a year, the Bobcats and Golden Flashes split each of their eight matchups. Last season the teams only played once and needed overtime before Kent State pulled out a 2-1 win.
“We know what we’re going into when we play Kent. Miami is the school’s natural rival, but Kent is a bigger rival for us,” junior goalkeeper Brittany Walker said. “They’re a loud and in your face type of team. Games with them are much more personal and physical.”
Kent State has run their way through conference play to this point, having outscored the competition 16-7 during their four MAC wins.
The Flashes have found the back of the cage with ease this season by scoring 54 goals and lead the MAC in overall goals, having scored 12 more goals than Miami, which ranks in second place. Kent State also recorded an assist on 45 of their goals scored.
Junior Julia Hofmann leads the Flashes with 10 goals, 26 points and six assists, while classmate Hannah Faulkner and senior Melanie Kahn have also scored eight and seven goals, respectively.
Ohio senior Luli Gomez Teruel leads the conference with 11 goals scored this season.
“I have a lot of confidence in (the team) to do what we need to win,” Macmillan said. “If we beat Kent, we will have beaten the top two seeds in the conference and proven to ourselves that we can beat anyone in the conference.”
The Bobcats’ third and final home game of the season will begin at 1 p.m. Saturday with each of the seniors being honored during the pre-game ceremonies.
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