Ohio opened MAC play with a 3-1 win against Akron.
Ohio opened Mid-American Conference play with the offensive swagger coach Aaron Rodgers has wanted since the offseason.
He received his request Friday afternoon, as three goals in the first half were enough for the Bobcats to snag three points from Akron and pick up a 3-1 win.
“This was huge,” Rodgers said after the match. “It puts us at 1-0 in our conference schedule and it helps us get one step closer to achieving our goals. It allows us to relax for a little bit.”
From the opening kickoff, the home side dominated play, and produced chances inside five minutes, when senior midfielder Leah Sandercock’s left-footed volley from 20-yards out knuckled into the cross bar.
The Bobcats took the lead in the sixth minute when a corner swung in from senior defender Tonya Frasik was knocked into the net by an Akron defender for an own goal.
Akron equalized in the 15th minute when Lani Smith snuck behind the Bobcat backline, played the ball off the post and then placed the rebound into the goal.
Earlier in the week, Rodgers said that Smith would be the one player this weekend that Ohio had to be aware of at all times. Even though she was the only forward at the time, she was able to create her own opportunity and capitalize.
“It kind of gave me some credibility,” Rodgers said, holding back a smile. “Hopefully I don’t need it, but it proved, ‘that’s the player who is going to beat you if you get beat.’”
But the Bobcats regained the lead a minute later when another Frasik corner was played into the area and senior midfielder Annie Beard headed home the cross.
Freshman midfielder Allie Curry extended the lead in the 45th minute, when she cut in from the right outside flank towards the goal and her volley took a favorable deflection, dipping into the right corner of the net.
“I’m good at cutting in when I’m in the final third and being dynamic,” Curry said, recalling her shot. “I just took the ball at the defender and at the goal.”
The second half was much of the same, with Akron’s only real threat coming in the 66th minute when Smith broke free once again, but Ohio senior goalkeeper Nicole Amari dove full-extension and her feet knocked the ball to safety.
For the rest of the match, the Bobcats bombarded the Zips goal, and finished the match with a dozen corner kicks and 11 shots on goal.
“We have to enjoy this and celebrate wins because we play to win,” Rodgers said. “But we have to stay supremely focused on the task at hand, which is Buffalo on Sunday.”
