After back-to-back victories to open their season, the Bobcats look to stay undefeated against two nonconference opponents they’ve gotten familiar with the past couple of seasons.
Having the familiarity with both Cleveland State and Marshall, two teams who are not in the Mid-American Conference, makes it easier for Ohio to game plan against them compared to other nonconference games.
The Bobcats may look to ride the hot performances from Abby Townsend and Alivia Milesky from the first two games of the season. Both players were reasons Ohio came out victorious in both the Eastern Kentucky and Northern Kentucky games.
The defense has also been stifling for the Bobcats, as they only allowed one goal in the first two games and seven shots on goal.
Friday vs. Cleveland State
Ohio (2-0) first returns home on Friday to take on Cleveland State (1-0-1). This is the fifth season in a row the two sides will play each other, and they’ve gone 2-2 in that stretch. The Vikings won the last match, however, and bested Ohio 4-0.
The Bobcats are poised, though, to keep their undefeated start to the season. 2019 is only the second time in program history the Bobcats opened the season without a loss after the first two games.
Entering the match against Cleveland State, the Bobcats will look to force the Vikings to play their brand of physical soccer instead of letting the Vikings control the pace of the game.
Cleveland State is a team who is still figuring where their offense is coming from in the young season, as the Vikings graduated their two top scorers from 2018.They have questions at the goalie position, where junior Stevie Holbrook will look to stifle the Bobcats’ attack. Holbrook was second in the Horizon League 63 saves last season.
First touch at Chessa Field on Friday is scheduled for 4 p.m.
Sunday at Marshall
Ohio travels to Huntington, West Virginia, on Sunday for a matchup with Marshall (0-2). Like Cleveland State, the Bobcats match up with the Thundering Herd for the fifth season in a row. Ohio has gone 1-2-1 against them in that time, but it did win last year’s matchup 3-1.
Although currently struggling this season, Marshall returned its two top scorers from last year, the Abu-Tayeh sisters, Marah and Farah, and the Bobcats will have to contain them if they want to keep the defense’s record looking stellar this season.
First touch from the Veterans Memorial Soccer Complex on Sunday is scheduled for 1 p.m.
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