Ohio travels to Virginia and splits two games against William & Mary and VCU.
Ohio's weekend in Virginia was a mirror image from its previous, in which the Bobcats split their weekend series on the road. Ohio began with a 5-3 loss to William & Mary on Friday, but bounced back to defeat Virginia Commonwealth University 3-2 on Sunday.
Ohio began its weekend with a tumultuous start. At halftime against William & Mary the Bobcats were losing 4-1, but freshman Alex Pennington replaced redshirt junior Lina Trucco halfway through and in her first career appearance registered three saves and didn't allow a goal.
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William & Mary held Ohio to one goal until the 69th minute, when freshman Emma Eggleston scored off an assist from senior Adele Sammons, who recorded two assists during the game and has already notched three on the season. Sophomore Elena Curley added her first goal of the season a minute later off a corner.
Ohio continued its successful second-half play with a quick start against VCU.
Senior Clarissa Leickly netted a goal in the sixth minute off assists from Sammons and junior Kristen Buchanan.
“To score an early goal like that and set ourselves on the right track was a perfect start," coach Neil Macmillan said.
With the score tied at halftime, the Bobcats came out with a sense of urgency. Junior Hannah Kingsbury scored off an assist from sophomore Maria Russell in the 37th minute. The pair connected again four minutes later with Kingsbury feeding Russell.
"After we went down to William & Mary (on Friday), we realized our mistakes," Kingsbury said. "We did an exercise on what fired us up and got us going for a game. We used that and each other to make sure that, even if we did go down today, we came back and stayed in the play and didn't just give up on the ball."
Both team chemistry and player development are signs of the Bobcats' improvement from just a season ago.
The offense, an issue with last year’s team, has played well in the Bobcats' first four games. Ohio has increased its average goals per game from 1.06 last year to 2.25 through its first four games.
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