Ohio has been on a tear the past few weeks.
The Bobcats (5-2-1) head into Friday’s game at Cleveland State looking for their fifth consecutive win before heading into Mid-American Conference play.
The Vikings will enter Friday with a 4-4 record, but they are 4-0 at home in comparison to the Bobcats, who are 3-0 away from Chessa Field.
For Ohio, being on the road is about understanding what needs to get done.
“We have a lot of heart and we’re working hard; we understand that being in unfamiliar surroundings can be difficult and we’re able to grind it out,” coach Aaron Rodgers said. “The Niagara win, especially coming from behind in the last six minutes to win that game, and then obviously Youngstown where they made it very difficult for us to play, but we stuck with it, and stuck to our tactics and our task, and we were able to get a goal.”
The Vikings are on a roll as of late, too, as they have outscored their opponents 10-1 in their last three games. Cleveland State has won three consecutive games against UMass-Lowell, Robert Morris and Madonna University.
Limiting goal opportunities has been the new emphasis for Rodgers.
“We’ve been working on attacking, we’ve been working on scoring goals, but it’s important to limit the opportunities from the other team,” said Rodgers. “For us to get a shutout, going into the game was a small goal .,. and then obviously score some goals.”
Cleveland State is familiar with MAC teams, as this will be its fifth game against a MAC opponent this year.
Including an exhibition loss against Buffalo, the Vikings are just 1-3 in their four games against MAC teams. The lone win came against Bowling Green (2-1), and Cleveland State will finish its non-conference schedule at Akron Sunday.
Ohio and Cleveland State are high-shot volume teams, which should make for an exciting offensive game.
The Bobcats have yet to face a team like this on their current streak, which makes this a good test before entering conference play.
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Up Next:
Who: Ohio (5-2-1) at Cleveland State (4-0)
When: 7 p.m. Friday
