Coming off a tough 2-1 loss to Buffalo on Thursday, Ohio made a quick turnaround Sunday afternoon against Akron.
Spreading the wealth helped the team get the job done, as four Bobcats scored in their 4-1 victory over the Zips.
Not only was this Ohio's first win in eight games, it was also the team's first win in Mid-American Conference play this season. Coach Aaron Rodgers said he thinks Thursday's loss is what really pushed the Bobcats to come out on top against the Zips.
"I think it's been a long time coming this MAC season," Rodgers said. "I think they feel great about themselves, which they should, and they thoroughly deserved to score four goals today and get the win."
It all started in the 33rd minute with a shot from junior Allie Curry off an overhead pass from senior Alexis Milesky. Curry took the ball to the left corner of the net, getting past Akron's keeper and gaining her third goal of the season. Junior Megan Niebuhr followed up with a penalty kick that gave the Bobcats a 2-0 lead in the first half. The Zips, however, managed to get a point on the scoreboard before halftime.
In the second period, Ohio scored in a similar fashion as the first goal as freshman Sydney Leckie took the ball to the left corner of the goal following an overhead pass from fellow freshman Alivia Milesky. Rodgers has said in the past that he sees a lot of promise in these two freshman and they have continued to prove that.
The final shot came from junior-transfer Bryce Hueber when she recovered a shot from Curry that was deflected and went straight for the bottom right post, giving the Bobcats a winning score of 4-1.
"That was a huge win for us," Leckie said. "We have been very close in all of our games, and I just think it took that first goal. And it was really exciting and really relieving because we've been so close every game and then for it to finally pay off. I think we're just going to keep going up from here."
Ohio attacked the goal hard this game with 18 shots and 10 on goal compared to Akron's five and five respectively. The Bobcats also created more opportunities for themselves to score by adding up nine corner kicks while the Zips had none.
Rodgers said Akron has been having a similar season as his team when it comes to results in MAC play so far and that the Bobcats had to stand their ground when playing them.
"We knew that they were going to come out and pose some problems for us," Rodgers said, "So it was important to get up on top and get a second goal early because that's kind of been our downfall because we've given up two goals and today we were able to turn the tables so it feels good to follow through with that."
Next week, the Bobcats will travel to Ypsilanti, Michigan to play Eastern Michigan in another MAC play matchup.
