Ohio is in the midst of a scoring drought and looking for continuity versus Miami this weekend in Oxford.
Normally practice starts around 2:15 in the afternoon for coach Neil Macmillan and the Bobcats,, but on a week where Ohio will go against Mid-American Conference rival Miami, most members of the team were found at Pruitt Field early — working on shots and stick work.
Coming off a weekend when the Bobcats (2-6) found little success offensively, Macmillan said they are looking to use the previous six weeks to accommodate their matchup with the Redhawks.
“We spoke a lot about this weekend, and obviously we took some negatives but we also took some positives too,” junior Adele Sammons said. “ We look at the season, so far, as an experience, but now we have MAC play and we can leave it behind and go on from there.”
Sammons was one of the few players working on shots with Macmillan before practice Tuesday, as the Upminster, England, native earned MAC Defensive Player of the Week honors on Sept. 23 for her two defensive saves in Ohio’s 1-0 loss to Indiana.
Macmillan expressed the importance of scoring against Miami, once again. The offense has been the Bobcats’ weakness thus far, as they were outshot 53-5 against Liberty and Richmond in the past weekend.
“I think (Miami) is in a very familiar position as us,” Macmillan said. “Not only in wins and losses, but the manner they’ve won and loss games. If you look at the comparative opponents they’ve played, it’s pretty similar. They’re struggling in common areas as us and it’s going to be a battle of the team who can get their mental focus right.”
Macmillan said they aware of what they need to work on, but actually applying and implementing fixes has been challenging. The Bobcats are currently in the midst of a scoring drought and has not scored a goal in close to 310 minutes of play.
The Redhawks (3-8) are coming off a 4-2 loss to Providence, and similar to the Bobcats, scoring has come at rare opportunities. Miami has scored 23 times in 11 games — 10 goals came from in a win over Appalachian State on Sept. 20.
The last time Miami and Ohio meet was in MAC Tournament last year, when Ohio fell 2-1. Earlier in the offseason Macmillan explained that the rivalry against the Redhawks does not consist of ‘bad blood’ but only respect.
“It’s a learning process this year, with everyone. With skills, tactics, technical nature of this sport,” Macmillan said. “We’re trying to learn every single game. It sounds cliche, but get better every game and I feel we are.”
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