Ohio (5-1-1) returned home to Chessa Field for its final nonconference match against Oakland (1-6-2). Ohio entered the game as the winner of its last three matches. The Bobcats looked to extend that streak to four before beginning a Mid-American Conference title defense next week against Western Michigan, and did so successfully, with a 7-0 victory.
At the beginning of the match, Ohio established its physical playstyle early, halting Oakland’s offense. Early in the half, Ohio outpaced Oakland in shots, shots on goal, and corner kicks for the first 19 minutes of play, but couldn’t break through the sturdy play of Oakland's goalkeeper Julia Zengerl.
However, that changed in the 19th minute, when Ohio forward Aubrey Rea found the ball in front of the Oakland net on a cross pass from defender Reyann Pruss to give Ohio an early 1-0 lead.
In the 20th minute, one minute following Ohio’s first goal, midfielder Hailey Jeng was delivered a pass from Jaimason Brooker while streaking towards the Oakland net which she put past the goalkeeper to quickly extend Ohio’s lead to 2-0.
In the 37th minute, midfielder Iro Fakinou found fellow midfielder Sydney Crowe who quickly struck and put the ball past the outstretched arm of the Oakland keeper to give Ohio a commanding 3-0 lead entering the half.
When the second half commenced, Ohio continued to pour on the offensive pressure against the Oakland defense. In the 58th minute, Brooker connected with Rea in the middle of the field who found the back of the net for her second goal on the day, while also giving Brooker her second assist and extending Ohio’s lead to 4-0.
Oakland had no answer for the Ohio offensive attack today. In the 75th and 79th minute, two goals were scored by forward Sania Dearing, both being individual efforts keeping pressure on the Oakland defense to further extend Ohio’s lead to 6-0.
In the 88th minute, midfielder Eve Berish joined in on the scoring with a shot blasted from the top of the box into the back of the Oakland net to close the game with a 7-0 victory.
Ohio finishes its nonconference schedule with a record of 5-1-1 and enter Mid-American Conference play on a four-match winning streak.
Ohio coach Aaron Rodgers has been impressed with his team’s performance to start the season, but still sees the chance for further improvement in certain areas to better prepare the team for another championship run.
“I think there are still some things to tighten up … I don’t think we’ve scored this many goals until probably two-thirds of the way through last season,” Rodgers said. “We’ve kept a number of clean sheets and we’re doing what’s required of us at this moment, but I definitely want to see us improve on a lot of areas so we can go and have a good, good run.”
