In the early stages of Mid-American Conference play, Ohio (6-1-4, 1-0-3 MAC), the defending MAC champion, has recorded its third tie in its first four conference matchups.
Ohio battled to a 0-0 draw Sunday afternoon against Kent State, keeping Ohio in fourth place in the MAC with seven regular season matches remaining. With the draw, Ohio holds a streak of no losses in eight straight matches.
Much of the credit for the streak and the team’s performance has fallen on the performance of goalkeeper Celeste Sloma and the rest of the Ohio defense. When asked about the team’s start in the MAC, Ohio coach Aaron Rodgers had high praise for his defense and the ability of the unit to keep the team in games.
“It means we’re defending really well,” Rodgers said. “We have only conceded one goal, and that was to Western [Michigan], who is at the top of the table, defending regular season champions. So I am very proud of how we’re defending.”
Although Ohio is in the midst of an impressive no-loss streak, the team will need to find an answer on offense if it wants to defend its MAC title. The team has allowed just one goal through conference play but has scored only four. Prior to MAC play, the offense was humming, beating its last three opponents by a combined 11-1.
“At the end of the day, we just got unlucky and we’re going to keep going,” Scout Murray said.
Against Kent State, Ohio saw one shot go into the back of the net — a would-be game-winning shot that saw the team surge the field in celebration. However, the shot was called off-side, halting the victory.
“We finished one at the end, and I think it was just a half a leg off-side,” Rodgers said. “One of the assistants looked at it and said it was at worst half a leg.”
Although luck hasn’t been on Ohio’s side offensively, the team seemingly hasn’t needed it defensively, leaning on its talent and athleticism en route to seven shutouts in eleven games.
Following the tie against Kent State, Rodgers noted the athleticism of any combination of players Ohio can put on its backline in front of MAC Defensive Player of the Week Celeste Sloma. This has allowed the Bobcats to play more aggressively, getting the ball back to their offense more often than not. All seven of Ohio’s shutouts have come with Sloma in the net, tying her season-high from 2023.
Ohio has been relatively proficient on offense and essentially impenetrable on defense. Each unit ranks top 5 in the MAC in terms of goals and goals allowed since the start of conference play. The Bobcats just haven’t been able to put it together to close out games.
The Bobcats will have a prime opportunity to climb up the MAC rankings from its current fourth-place designation in the coming weeks. Ohio still has games against two teams placed above them in the rankings in Buffalo and Central Michigan. Ohio will also have prime opportunities against struggling teams like Akron and Northern Illinois.
If Ohio can find a way to pair timely scoring with one of the best goalkeepers in the MAC, Celeste Sloma, it will be a hard team to beat come tournament time. In last season’s MAC championship run, from the lowest seed in the tournament, Ohio was able to put together two goals in each of its three games. The Bobcats will look to rekindle that offensive magic moving forward.
