Senior Regan Berg has been Ohio's secret weapon this season.
Her first goal of the season came in Ohio's third match against Marshall. After that, Berg couldn't get her footing until Sunday, when a hat trick against Eastern Michigan earned her Mid-American Conference Offensive Player of the Week. This feat by Berg was only the fourth hat trick in Ohio history. Her hat trick also came in a match where the rest of Ohio's offense struggled for production.
On Thursday at Northern Illinois, Berg's strong run continued. In the first half of the match, Ohio missed out on a few different opportunities to take the lead and had to settle for a 0-0 score at halftime.
Ohio and Berg maintained the same amount of aggressiveness in the beginning of the second half but eventually Berg broke through. Her goal in the 60th minute got Ohio on the board and continued a relentless offense run for Berg.
"She just needed confidence," Ohio coach Aaron Rodgers said. "We know what she's able to bring and she's just a powerful force. I figured she would do well again today and she's going to keep going."
Just over three minutes later, Northern Illinois evened the score. However, that didn't limit the aggressiveness offensively for Ohio and Berg, as she made her presence felt against the Husky defense.
A late offsides call negated a goal by the Bobcats. The hard fought, and largely Bobcat controlled match, ended in a 1-1 draw.
"Weird things in soccer where you can draw and feel like you probably left two points on the table," Rodgers said. "Some of the other results, if we would have won that match, that would have put us up for the top four. We have a long season to go."
In a match where the Bobcats were disappointed with the result, they can take one positive away from Thursday: Regan Berg is making her presence known.
