Ohio lost to Northwestern 4-2 Sunday.
Facing a nationally ranked opponent can be intimidating for any sports team.
If Ohio (8-8) was nervous coming into its matchup against No. 16 Northwestern (12-6), it certainly didn’t let it show.
The Bobcats lost 4-2, but a 2-1 lead at halftime could be taken as a positive sign.
“To come out here today and play a ranked team was a lot more relaxing for us really, knowing we had nothing to lose,” Adele Sammons said.
Ohio wasted no time getting on the scoreboard, as Clarissa Leickly scored three minutes into the game off of a corner. Ten minutes later, Sammons would score on an individual effort to put Ohio up 2-0.
“I think we were really excited; we were back in our home field,” Leickly said. “We just lost to Kent so we wanted to get the win today and beat a big ten team.”
Ohio was coming off a 2-1 loss to Kent State two day before playing Northwestern, as late in the first half the Wildcats cut the lead to 2-1.
“I think we did an excellent job early on of sticking to the game plan and doing what we wanted to do,” coach Neil Macmillan said.
Whatever was said by Northwestern coach Tracey Fuchs during halftime provided immediate results.
Northwestern emerged at the start of the second half looking much like the nationally ranked team boasted heading in. From the start of the half, the Wildcats controlled the majority of the play while the Bobcats struggled.
“Second half they put us under a lot more pressure,” Macmillan said. “We got frantic and didn’t execute as well as we wanted to.”
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Northwestern would go on to score three unanswered goals to complete their comeback. Ohio struggled to provide offense and was often trapped in their own defensive circe.
With the 2-1 loss to Kent State on Friday and Sunday’s loss to Northwestern, Ohio suffered a winless weekend.
“Northwestern was gunning for us; you could tell,” Leickly said. “We didn’t step up as they stepped up.”
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