The beginning of any season is a welcome reminder that what’s past is of little importance and the future holds a clean slate.
The Ohio women’s soccer team will usher in the latter to try to overcome the former beginning July 31, when team camp begins.
Ohio ended its 2011 season on a dull note, rendering a scoreless eight-goal defeat at the hands of Toledo, the eventual Mid-American Champions, in the first round of the conference tournament.
There have been several coaching changes in the MAC over the offseason. Akron, Bowling Green, Northern Illinois and Western Michigan all have new coaches, and Ohio coach Stacy Strauss said the conference will be competitive throughout.
“The MAC is probably one of the most even conferences from top to bottom,” she said. “There’s a ton of parity within the conference and we’ve had a multitude of different champions in the time that I’ve been here, so you never know.”
She said the coaching changes could allow other teams who were not pegged as conference favorites to turn some heads in the postseason.
“Any time you change the head coach, it creates an unknown,” she said.
Strauss said her team’s nonconference schedule, which is historically very competitive, would allow the team to grow in preparation for conference play. Ohio’s marquee matchups will include Big Ten opponent Indiana and Big East member DePaul.
The Bobcats are a much younger team than they were last year, as 10 seniors departed from the squad. Paige Howard, Cathryn Rogers, Erin Schwenke and Veronica Rock will anchor the Bobcats senior class this season.
A wide-open conference could work in the Bobcats’ favor. They have adopted a new style and attitude in the offseason, and will welcome eight freshmen to the squad.
“In the offseason, I think the mood and attitude within the team dramatically changed,” Strauss said. “The group of seniors are all just hardworking, blue collar kind of kids and they believe in hard work and the value of it and I think that helps vastly improve the work of the entire team.”
Just as the team’s physical outlook changed for 2012, its offensive attack will have a different appearance as well.
“We also changed our style of play a little bit to produce more goals and essentially to keep the ball,” Strauss said. “I think that really started to come into fruition toward the end of the spring season.”
Strauss said the team will keep improving with the tactical change, which will enable the Bobcats to attack with greater numbers.
“We just changed the emphasis a little bit to moving the ball around and taking the emphasis off having one or two players make an impact and making it more of a group effort to have everybody touch the ball,” Strauss said.
Along with a new style of play, Ohio also made a change in the coaching staff. Stephanie Demake was hired this summer as an assistant coach, and will work primarily with the Bobcats’ defense unit.
Ohio will start its season with an exhibition match against Eastern Kentucky on Aug. 12, and will begin the regular season on the road against Wright State on Aug. 17.
mk277809@ohiou.edu
