The combination of bad weather and the physical play from Kent State were a pair of obstacles that Ohio was unable to overcome Thursday at Chessa Field.
The Bobcats (7-7-5, 3-5-3 Mid-American Conference) fell 2-1 to the Golden Flashes during the final game of the regular season.
The game didn’t alter Ohio’s positioning in the MAC standings, as the Bobcats remain No. 8 and will take on Eastern Michigan in the first round of the MAC Tournament Sunday, while Kent State (12-7-0, 7-4-0 MAC) clinched the No. 5 seed and will play Western Michigan.
Freshman forward Alexis Milesky opened the scoring in the 10th by finishing a score that pinballed around the box for her fourth score on the year. Junior defenseman Tanya Frasik was credited with her team-leading sixth assist of the season on the play.
“That goal was off of pure fight,” Milesky said. “It wasn’t a pretty goal, it was just fight in the box. Maggie did a great job of sliding and tackling, and Gabby did a great job of sliding and tackling. I think it was just our will to work, honestly.”
Less than ten minutes later, Ohio’s Molly Whitacre, a freshman defenseman, was called for a penalty that sent Kent State senior forward Jessacca Gironda to the penalty spot. She converted her opportunity against Bobcat senior goalkeeper Mattie Liston and tied the game at one.
Gironda tallied another score in the 28th which they held for the remainder of the game.
Ohio will be looking for redemption Sunday, after Eastern Michigan came into Athens two weeks ago and cruised to a 3-0 win against the Bobcats.
The Eagles are the highest-scoring team in the MAC and have shown Ohio many problems defensively. Eastern Michigan earned the No. 1 seed Thursday after defeating Western Michigan 2-1.
“(The Eagles) came in here and two weeks ago and beat us pretty handily,” coach Aaron Rodgers said. “For us we need a chance for redemption and there’s an opportunity for that. If we take care of the details, if we seal off in the box, and if we defend and organize like we did in the second half of today and possess for most of the match we’ll be right in it.”
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