Nov. 3, 2006
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Athens, Ohio - The Bobcats used their tough defense to defeat Kent State 3-1 and advance to the championship game of the Mid-American Conference Tournament at Peggy Pruitt Field. The Bobcats scored three unanswered second-half goals and earned the right to play for another MAC championship.
The first-seeded Bobcats (12-8) will meet No. 2 seed Ball State and reigning Player of the Year, Lindsay Quay, in the MAC title game. After a scoreless first half, Kent State's Natalie Barrett put the Golden Flashes on the board first at the 41:33 mark. Barrett beat two defenders dropped a shot past Bobcat goalkeeper Jessie Martin (Louisville, Ky.). The goal was Barrett's third goal of the tournament.
The Bobcats quickly responded just one minute later with an unassisted goal from Rachelle Coetzee (Bloemfontein, South Africa). Coetzee then assisted on Torrie Albini's (Escondido, Calif.) goal three minutes later to give Ohio a 2-1 lead off a penalty corner. Estienne Coetzee then made it a two-goal game on another penalty corner with less than 10 minutes left in the game.
"Quickly answering Kent State's goal was big for us," said Head Coach Neil Macmillan. "For us to give up a goal, especially to a team that ran in six yesterday, we thought they would have the momentum going for them, so coming right back to answer their goal less than two minutes later was fantastic. We say that we play better when we're a goal down, so it took for them to score a goal for us to get into the game."
Ohio held Kent State (7-15) to just three shots in the contest with Natalie Barrett's shot being the only shot-on-goal. The Bobcats also won the penalty corner battle 12-3.
The top-seeded Bobcats meet No. 2 seed Ball State on Saturday, Nov. 4 at 2:00 p.m. The Bobcats and Cardinals split the 2006 regular season series with each team winning on its home turf. The Bobcats won the first meeting 4-0 and Ball State won the second match-up by a score of 3-2.
The winner of Saturday's final will take on the winner of the Northern Pacific Conference in a play-in game to advance to the 16-team NCAA Tournament.
