The Bobcat lost their final game of the year against the Golden Flashes on Thursday.
For a season of dull performances and a shortage of goals, Ohio closed its campaign with an exciting end-to-end extra-time finish against the No. 5 team in the Mid-American Conference.
In truth, it was a match played by two equal sides, not a mid-table team and an Ohio squad missing the MAC Tournament for the first time since 2008.
But a goal in the 100th minute from a corner was enough for Kent State to hold off the Bobcats 3-2 in the last game in the regular season.
“It’s always disappointing to go out on a loss, but we fought to the end,” coach Aaron Rodgers said. “Maybe we didn’t have quite enough left in the tank.”
After the match, Rodgers talked to his team and thanked the seniors for the legacy they created and the impact they’ve made on the program, but said he could’ve done more for their careers to end in a positive manner.
“As the head coach I apologized to them for not creating an environment that was going to take them out winners,” Rodgers said. “At the end of the day, it’s my job to organize them that way.”
The Bobcats (6-13, 3-8 MAC) entered the season with high expectations. While some of them might’ve been wishful thinking, such as winning the MAC, getting into postseason play and winning a match or two was a fairly achievable goal.
Just three weeks ago, Ohio was on the right path to be in the same position Kent State(10-6-3 5-4-2) was as it rolled away from Chessa Field on Thursday, with a respectable seed the tournament.
But a six-game losing streak to end the year made Rodger’s side freefall out of postseason play and hold the conference’s longest string of consecutive losses.
The team’s problem, or at least one of them, came from unlucky breaks that had a direct impact on the season as a whole.
Overall, the Bobcats finished 0-4 in overtime matches, two of which were in conference play. Had they won those, they would’ve been the group celebrating at the final whistle today, rather than the Flashes.
Now Rodgers and his staff can look back on the season, sooner than they would’ve wanted, and can put together a strategy for the program moving forward.
“We’ve got to work on our physical toughness on the field and our mental toughness,” he said. “I think those were some areas we were lacking in. … Soccer-wise I thought we were just as competitive [as Kent State]. We had more of the game, we just didn’t take our chances and that’s been part of the issue the entire year.”
gh181212@ohio.edu
@charliehatch_
