Problems on both sides of the ball continue to plague the Bobcats.
Zero goals in three games is not the stat that Ohio coach Aaron Rodgers wanted to be reading on Monday.
Alexis Milesky stills looks like the most likely player to force the issue and score at the crucial time but without some support from her wingers, defensively sound teams will find Ohio easy to contain. Hannah Jaggers and Carly Manso both look dangerous but chances are coming to sparingly to be dangerous.
It has now been 318 minutes since his team has scored a goal -- Ohio has not yet scored in the regular season -- and with two tricky fixtures against Marshall and Kentucky coming up in a few days, his team needs to find an offensive rhythm quickly.
"I think there's a lot of good things to take away from this game," Rodgers said after the 2-0 defeat to Cleveland State. "We had more shots on goal than they did. We had more corner kicks. So we need to be a little more solid defensively."
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While the offense is worrisome, the defense has given up seven goals in three regular season games and multiple changes in the back line has created confusion for fans and players. But Ohio's lineup on Sunday, that of Kelley Zebrowski, Celest Fushimi-Karns, Grace Campbell and Rianna Reese looked very settled and composed.
Rodgers said that he'd probably stick with that back four next game, and for good reason. Campbell provides a commanding voice from center back, Fushimi-Karns has pace to burn and Reese and Zebrowski provide speed and needed width on the flanks. Newcomers Vanessa Cordoba and Erin Beurket have also been sharing time in goal, so the back line has to deal with that as well.
Cordoba has been a revelation in goal this season. While she has given up a handful of goals, she has regularly had to face double-digit shots a game and has done well to repel most of them. She seems to have a penchant for the fantastic, and early signs from Beurket say she is equally adept in the position.
"They've both been doing really well in training and they both played Friday night," Rodgers said. "We just wanted to continue to reward them both for their hard work and their ability to help us do well."
A few hiccups should be expected with Beurket being a freshman and both being new to the team. But if the defense doesn't improve and the forwards don't start scoring, the Bobcats will stumble into their conference schedule for the second year running.
@KellenBecoats
kb749012@ohio.edu
