Ohio (6-10, 2-5 Mid-American Conference) hosted Davidson (7-7, 3-3 Atlantic 10) Sunday afternoon. Ohio came out on top with a narrow 2-1 victory.
The Bobcats returned home after losing in overtime to Ball State 2-1. However, the team outshot the Cardinals 9-8. Ohio brought that offensive success into its matchup against Davidson, where it outshot the Wildcats 13-9 and had seven shots on goal.
“On my board, I wrote shots about 40 to 50 times as our game plan,” Ohio coach Ali Johnstone said. “We outshot Ball State, and we just have to keep going with it.”
Coming off a stretch where Ohio has struggled, Johnstone made a few schematic changes to get more successful scoring opportunities.
“We moved Sasha (Dikotla) to right mid… she’s just so quick, so she has the ability to come back,” Johnstone said. “We talked about changing our press and pulling it further back because they were hitting our seams and getting a few scary long balls.”
Dikotla excelled in this role, applying pressure on the Davidson defense, intercepting passes and adding three shots, two of which were on goal.
The Bobcats were efficient on penalty corners, scoring two goals on six corners, including a goal by freshman Addy Basile, the first of her collegiate career.
“Sasha (Diokotla) usually runs that spot, but Addie practices it, and so someone said that’s Sasha's spot isn’t it?” Johnstone said. “I was like, Addie's got it. She practices (that position), and she did it exactly how she did it in practice. It was great.”
The game-winning goal was scored by junior Anouk Plaehn off a blocked shot that came straight back to her, which she connected on her second chance opportunity. With that goal, she now leads the team with five.
“I was super excited; it was a great team win,” Plaehn said. “After Ball State, this was exactly what we needed.”
Ohio will look to continue this offensive efficiency in its final game of the season against Central Michigan for senior night on Friday.
