With just one regular season game remaining, the Ohio women’s soccer team is looking to end the season on a high note
before entering the Mid-American Conference tournament.
If the season ended Thursday, Ohio (7-6-5, 3-4-3 MAC) would be the No. 8 seed playing Western Michigan, but with a win on Thursday against Kent State (11-7-0, 6-4-0 MAC) and a Northern Illinois loss, Bobcats could move up to the No. 7 seed.
The Golden Flashes have been a solid team in MAC play, as they have recorded a number of quality conference wins. Kent State handed Western Michigan its only loss of the MAC season, as the Golden Flashes defeated the Broncos 3-2. Also, Kent State took down Ball State 1-0.
Ohio has been close to recording wins against some of the MAC’s top teams so far this season, as it tied with Miami and Western Michigan, two teams that will be among the top three seeds in the tournament. This could be the perfect time for a big win like this to gain some momentum heading into the postseason.
“At this point we have to look at it as if we are playing for our life and we need to get a good result,” coach Aaron Rodgers said. “We need to set ourselves up for a single elimination tournament and a good result would give us a lot of confidence going into the single elimination tournament.”
Kent compares very similarly to the Bobcats offensively as they have scored 25 goals on the season, 12 of which have come from the boot of senior Jessacca Gironda. Ohio has experience stopping one person offenses as last week that was the case with Toledo.
Teams that have beat Kent State this season have minimized the Golden Flashes’ goals, so the Bobcats will likely have to do the same to come out with a win.
Although the Bobcats may be heading into the tournament as one of the lowest seeds, they’re confident enough that they can come out with a win against anyone in the conference.
“We are trying to create a mentality in our players that we are going to win every game,” Rodgers said. “Especially in our conference where I feel we could beat anybody. Whoever, whether we’re the 7th or 8th seed, I feel very confident that if we compete at the level that we can then we can get a result for sure.”
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