Sept. 23, 2005
Final Stats
MUNCIE, Ind. - A season-high five goals--including a pair off sophomore Torrie Albini's stick--and a solid defensive effort lifted the Ohio field hockey team to a 5-1 win over Ball State Friday in the Mid-American Conference opener at the BSU Turf Field.
The Bobcats (2-5 overall, 1-0 MAC) scored twice in the first half and tallied the first three goals of the second frame to put the Cardinals (1-7, 0-1 MAC) away. A late Ball State score--off a penalty corner at 50:33--was the lone blemish on the scoreboard.
The victory marks the first in the MAC for Ohio Head Coach Neil Macmillan and the Bobcats have now won 12-straight over the Cardinals, dating back to the 2000 season.
"Every MAC win is important because the better you do in the regular season, the better off you'll be in the tournament," Macmillan said. "It was important for us to get a win and we played exceptionally well in doing it."
Freshman Nikki Gnozzio (Flanders, N.J.) opened up the scoring with her first-career goal in the first half. Gnozzio took an Erica Bundalo (Virginia Beach, Va.) pass high on the right side and deposited it past the Cardinal goaltender to put the Bobcats on top 6:51 into the contest.
Albini (Escondido, Calif.) notched her first of two goals at the 24:08 mark, taking a low shot from the right side and pushing it past the Ball State goaltender for a 2-0 lead.
The Bobcats would take that two-goal lead into intermission, having outshot the Cardinals 11-2 and posting a 7-1 advantage in penalty corners.
Quickly out of the break, Ohio added on to its lead. An Estienne Coetzee (Bloemfontein, South Africa) deflection on the far post from her sister Rachelle Coetzee (Bloemfontein, South Africa) found the back of the net and gave the Bobcats a 3-0 advantage with 32 minutes to play. E. Coetzee leads Ohio with now five goals on the season.
Within the next 10 minutes, the Bobcats blew the game wide open. Albini made the most of a penalty shot opportunity at the 45:32 mark, scoring her second goal of the game to put Ohio up 4-0.
Just more than a minute later, senior Taylor Edwards (Chatham, N.J.) got into the act. Grabbing a rebound, Edwards hit the cage for the first time this season and gave Ohio its fifth tally of the contest.
At the 50:33 mark, Ball State made its lone offensive push, converting one of its eight penalty corner opportunities. Lindsay Quay scored for the third time this season and pulled the Cardinals to within four. They would not, however, get any closer.
"That's how we should have been playing all season long," Macmillan said. "But, I'm really glad we were able to get it all together for today's game."
Defensively, Ohio shrugged off all but one of Ball State's 15 shot attempts and turned away seven of eight Cardinal penalty corners. Senior goaltender Jennifer Cote (Raynham, Mass.) posted nine saves in the cage and Amanda Arnold (Oceanport, N.J.) was credited with her second defensive save in the past two games.
"We were very solid defensively," Macmillan said. "Jen Cote stepped up when she had to and our corner defense was excellent."
Ohio will stay on the road and in the conference Saturday. The Bobcats will meet Miami in Oxford. Match time is set for 1 p.m. at the Miami North Turf Field.
